TAMPERE (EuroBasket 2015) - Finland warned on Saturday they will be a force to be reckoned with in EuroBasket 2015 Group A, as they stunned reigning European champions France 76-67 in Tampere, in the first warm-up game for both teams.

Playing in front of an enthusiastic capacity crowd of 7,282 home fans, Finland came out guns blazing and drilled eight triples in the opening quarter to race to a fantastic 36-14 lead in this early prelude to September's Group A opener.

The shell-shocked EuroBasket champions regained their composure in the second frame but the hosts still maintained a comfortable 53-35 cushion at the half-time interval.

France however still believed there was plenty of time to turn the game around, and started chipping away at the deficit with a three-pointer by Charles Kahudi midway through the fourth instigated a late 11-2 rally.

Thomas Heurtel capped it off with a jumper that enabled Les Bleus to reduce the gap to 70-67 going into the final two minutes of action, but then the Finns decided they were going to hold on to victory.

Finland came up with a steal on defense and the Petteri Koponen dished out his ninth assist of the game for Erik Murphy to knock down a dagger two that restored a five-point gap.

France turned the ball over on their two remaining possessions while Finland scored on both trips down the floor to write the final score and celebrate a well-deserved victory.

Sasu Salin and Murphy poured in 19 points apiece, on 5 of 7 and 3 of 6 three-point shooting respectively, while Koponen had 10 points to go with his game-high nine assists.

Tony Parker had 14 points while Rudy Gobert collected a double-double of 10 points and 11 boards in the losing effort.

Jamar Wilson, who had 8 points and 5 boards in his first-ever game with the Finnish national team, was impressed by the atmosphere.

"It was amazing, everyone was trying to describe it to me but I could not yet put it into context," he said.

"But when the national anthem came on I had goosebumps, it was an amazing feeling.

"I think we played well together, we hit some big shots in the beginning that gave us an early lead.

"The game is about runs and obviously they are a good team so they made a run back but we played our style, we played really tough and aggressive and we played with courage and made our shots down the stretch to win the game.

"France did not have their whole team and it's still early but for us it's a great win against a really talented team, we came together towards the end of the game and we got the win."

France travelled to Finland without captain Boris Diaw and star small forward Nicolas Batum.

Meanwhile Fabien Causeur has withdrawn from preparations for EuroBasket after contracting an eye infection that will keep him sidelined for at least two weeks.

The shooting guard remains at the disposal of coach Vincent Collet but, unless there are injuries to other perimeter players, he will not rejoin training camp and will not play at the big event.

"We'd like to thank France for making the trip to Finland and playing this game," Finland head coach Henrik Dettmann said after Saturday's game.

"We know that France could have easily stayed home and have only sell-out games in front of their home crowd.

"Nevertheless they travelled here and in our eyes that makes them great ambassadors for the game.

"We have a lot of respect for them."

The two teams will meet next on French soil, as they go up against each other in the Group A premiere, on 5 September.

Finland play their next friendly game against Lithuania while France return home and will play host to Serbia on Friday.

Go to eurobasket2015.org for more coverage of EuroBasket 2015.

FIBA