Luka Doncic scored 39 points but Slovenia (0-2) lost again at EuroBasket after France’s deep bench proved too much for the Los Angeles Lakers star's team on Saturday.
France's 103-95 win came two days after Doncic had scored 34 points in Slovenia's 105-95 defeat to co-host Poland. His outing against France put Doncic over 1,000 career points for Slovenia.
Point guard Sylvain Francisco came off the bench to lead France with 32 points in the game played in Katowice, Poland. France improved to 2-0 in Group D.
Doncic made 19 of 20 free throws, grabbed eight rebounds and had nine assists, but it wasn’t enough as Francisco helped fuel 78 points by France's bench players, compared to just 26 from Slovenia's.
Washington Wizards pair Bilal Coulibaly and Alex Sarr combined for 25 points to help pace France, with 12 points from Zaccharie Risacher of the Atlanta Hawks.
American-born guard Jordan Loyd led Poland with 27 points and came through in the clutch to edge Israel 66-64 to improve to 2-0.
Lloyd led Poland with 27 points, including 5-of-8 3-pointers. He scored 10 of Poland’s final 13 points, including a putback of his own shot with 13 seconds left to give his team the win.
Deni Avdija of the Portland Trailblazers had 23 points for Israel (1-1).
Also in Group D, Belgium overcame a seven-point, fourth-quarter deficit to beat Iceland 71-64 and improve to 1-1. Iceland is 0-2.
Nikola Jokic scored 39 points, including the final two points of the game from the free-throw line, to help Serbia edge Latvia 84-80.
The Denver Nuggets star had 10 rebounds and four assists. His record points total bettered his previous best for Serbia of 32 points.
A 3-0 record in Group A ensured Serbia a spot in the knockout phase with two games remaining. Co-host Latvia fell to 1-2.
Serbia captain and Los Angeles Clippers guard Bogdan Bogdanovic missed the game with a hamstring injury.
Houston Rockets center Alperen Sengun scored all 20 of his points in the first half as Turkey trounced Portugal 95-54 to also move on with a 3-0 record from Group A.
The group phase of 24 teams is being played in four different countries. The top four teams from each group will advance to the knockout phase in Riga, Latvia, from Sept. 6-14.
Estonia (1-2) beat Czechia (0-3) 89-75 also in Group A.
Sacramento Kings point guard Dennis Schröder scored 26 points as Germany beat Lithuania 107-88 and booked its spot in the knockout phase.
Orlando Magic forward Franz Wagner added 24 points and seven rebounds, and Daniel Theis chipped in with 23 points as world champion Germany improved to 3-0 in Group B.
Germany won the game from long range, hitting 19 3-pointers on 54% shooting, with Schröder going 5-of-10 from distance. Schroder also handed out six assists in another strong performance despite him being targeted by racial abuse from two fans, who were ejected from the stadium in Tampere, Finland.
Utah Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen put in 26 points in a 85-65 win over Montenegro (0-3) and help Finland (3-0) reach the playoffs. That came a day after Markkanen had run riot with 43 points in a rout of Britain.
Miami Heat's Pelle Larsson scored 23 as Sweden (1-2) beat Britain (0-3) 78-59 in Group B.
Giannis Antetokounmpo sat out Greece’s 96-69 win over Cyprus, two days after the Milwaukee Bucks forward had scored 31 points in a win over Italy.
American-born Tyler Dorsey and Konstantinos Mitoglou led Greece (2-0) with 18 points each. Co-host Cyprus fell to 0-2.
Spain (1-1) rebounded from an opening loss with a 88-67 victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina (1-1). Memphis Grizzlies forward Santi Aldama lead the defending champions with 19 points.
Also in Group C, Heat forward Simone Fontecchio scored 14 to help Italy (1-1) beat Georgia (1-1) 78-62.
AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports
Finland's Olivier Nkamhoua, right, looks to the basket as Montenegro's Nikola Vucevic defends during a FIBA EuroBasket 2025 group B basketball match between Montenegro and Finland in Tampere, Finland, Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025. (Heikki Saukkomaa/Lehtikuva via AP)
Germany's Andreas Obst, left, and Lithuania's Jonas Valanciunas in action during the basketball FIBA EuroBasket 2025 group B match between Lithuania and Germany in Tampere, Finland, Saturday Aug. 30, 2025. (Heikki Saukkomaa/Lehtikuva via AP)
Germany's Dennis Schroeder, left, and Lithuania's Tadas Sedekerskis in action during the basketball FIBA EuroBasket 2025 group B match between Lithuania and Germany in Tampere, Finland, Saturday Aug. 30, 2025. (Heikki Saukkomaa/Lehtikuva via AP)
HAVANA (AP) — Trumpets and drums played solemnly at Havana's airport Thursday as white-gloved Cuban soldiers marched out of a plane carrying urns with remains of the 32 Cuban officers killed during a stunning U.S. attack on Venezuela.
Nearby, thousands of Cubans lined one of Havana’s most iconic streets to await the bodies as the island remained under threat by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.
The soldiers' shoes clacked as they marched stiff-legged into the headquarters of the Ministry of the Armed Forces and placed the urns on a long table next to the pictures of those killed. Tens of thousands of people paid their respects, saluting the urns or holding their hand over their heart, many of them drenched from standing outside in a heavy downpour.
Thursday’s mass funeral was only one of a handful that the Cuban government has organized over the past half-century.
The soldiers were part of the security detail of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro during the Jan. 3 raid on his residence to seize the former leader and bring him to the U.S. to face drug trafficking charges.
State television also showed images of what it said were more than a dozen wounded combatants from the raid, accompanied by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez after arriving Wednesday night from Venezuela. A man identified in state media as Col. Pedro Domínguez attended Thursday's ceremony in a wheelchair.
He said it was a “disproportionate attack” that killed 11 colleagues around him as they slept. Domínguez said he was committed to doing “whatever it takes to defend this people and to remain united in the face of threats from the United States.”
Tensions between Cuba and the U.S. have spiked, with Trump recently demanding that the Caribbean country make a deal with him before it is “too late.” He did not explain what kind of deal.
Trump also has said that Cuba will no longer live off Venezuela's money and oil. Experts warn that the abrupt end of oil shipments could be catastrophic for Cuba, which is already struggling with serious blackouts and a crumbling power grid.
Officials unfurled a massive flag at Havana's airport as President Miguel Díaz-Canel, clad in military garb, stood silent next to former President Raúl Castro, with what appeared to be the relatives of those killed looking on nearby.
Cuban Interior Minister Lázaro Alberto Álvarez Casas called the slain soldiers “heroes” of an anti-imperialist struggle spanning both Cuba and Venezuela. In an apparent reference to the U.S., he said the “enemy” speaks of “high-precision operations, of troops, of elites, of supremacy.
“We, on the other hand, speak of faces, of families who have lost a father, a son, a husband, a brother,” Álvarez said.
The events demonstrate that “imperialism may possess more sophisticated weapons; it may have immense material wealth; it may buy the minds of the wavering; but there is one thing it will never be able to buy: the dignity of the Cuban people,” he said.
Carmen Gómez, a 58-year-old industrial designer, was among the thousands of Cubans who lined a street where motorcycles and military vehicles thundered by with the remains of those killed.
“They are people willing to defend their principles and values, and we must pay tribute to them,” Gómez said. “It’s because of the sense of patriotism that Cubans have, and that will always unite us.”
The 32 military personnel ranged in age from 26 to 60 and were part of protection agreements between the two countries.
Officials in Cuba have said they expect a massive demonstration Friday across from the U.S. Embassy to protest the deaths.
“People are upset and hurt ... many do believe that the dead are martyrs” of a historic struggle against the United States, analyst and former diplomat Carlos Alzugaray told The Associated Press.
In October 1976, then-President Fidel Castro led a massive demonstration to bid farewell to the 73 people killed in the bombing of a civilian flight financed by anti-revolutionary leaders in the U.S. Most of the victims were Cuban athletes.
In December 1989, officials organized a ceremony to honor the more than 2,000 Cuban combatants who died in Angola during Cuba’s participation in a war that defeated the South African army.
In October 1997, memorial services were held following the arrival of the remains of guerrilla commander Ernesto “Che” Guevara and six of his comrades, who died in 1967.
The latest mass burial is critical to honor those slain, said José Luis Piñeiro, a 60-year-old doctor who lived for four years in Venezuela.
“I don’t think Trump is crazy enough to come and enter a country like this, ours, and if he does, he’s going to have to take an aspirin or some painkiller to avoid the headache he’s going to get,” Piñeiro said. “These were 32 heroes who fought him. Can you imagine an entire nation? He’s going to lose.”
The remains arrived a day after the U.S. announced $3 million in additional aid to help the island recover from the catastrophic Hurricane Melissa. The first flight took off on Wednesday, and a second flight was scheduled for Friday. A commercial vessel also will deliver food and other supplies.
Cuba had said on Wednesday that any contributions will be channeled through the government.
But U.S. State Department foreign assistance official Jeremy Lewin said Thursday that the U.S. was working with Cuba’s Catholic Church to distribute aid, as part of Washington's efforts to give assistance directly to the Cuban people.
“There’s nothing political about cans of tuna and rice and beans and pasta,” he said Thursday, warning that the Cuban government should not intervene or divert supplies. “We will be watching, and we will hold them accountable.”
Lewin said the Cuban government has a choice to: “Step down or better provide towards people.” Lewin added that “if there was no regime,” the U.S. would provide “billions and billions of dollars” in assistance, as well as investment and development: “That’s what lies on the other side of the regime for the Cuban people.”
Rodríguez, the Cuban foreign minister, said the U.S. government was “exploiting what appears to be a humanitarian gesture for opportunistic and politically manipulative purposes.”
Coto contributed from San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
People line up outside the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces where the remains are on display of the Cuban officers who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured President Nicolas Maduro, as it sprinkles rain in Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Military members line up outside the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces where the urns containing the remains of Cuban officers, killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured President Nicolas Maduro, are on display in Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Military members pay their last respects to Cuban officers who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, at the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces where the urns containing the remains are displayed during a ceremony in Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
A motorcade transports urns containing the remains of Cuban officers, who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, through Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Soldiers carry urns containing the remains of Cuban officers, who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, at the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces in Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (Adalberto Roque /Pool Photo via AP)
A motorcade transports urns containing the remains of Cuban officers, who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, through Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
A motorcade transports urns containing the remains of Cuban officers, who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, through Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
People line the streets of Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, to watch the motorcade carrying urns containing the remains of Cuban officers killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Workers fly the Cuban flag at half-staff at the Anti-Imperialist Tribune near the U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba, Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, in memory of Cubans who died two days before in Caracas, Venezuela during the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by U.S. forces. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
