GREAT BRITAIN MEN FINISH FOURTH IN STOP TWO OF NATIONS LEAGUE

 

Great Britain’s men finished an impressive fourth on Tuesday at Stop 2 of the FIBA U23 3X3 Nations League in Szolnok, Hungary.

After coming through their Pool A games with a 1-1 record, GB finished second in Pool A above winless Hungary, advancing to the third-place game against Poland, who finished second in Pool B.

But sadly for GB, they came up short in unbearable circumstances. However, coach Afiz Olaniyan saw improvements from Stop 1.

I think we’ve made a positive step in the right direction from day one to day two,” said Olaniyan.

“Having that first win was great as we applied everything that we said we were going to work on and we executed. But obviously this is a process, but every game we play, we are getting better.”

Earlier, Great Britain lost their first game against Czechia 17-12, but the score didn’t reflect the overall performance despite the loss.

With the lead no bigger than three points until the final 3:25, Czechia executed their shots down the stretch, and with foul trouble creeping up on GB, the Czechs hung on as time expired.

Blake Bowman led Great Britain with five points with Seth Wylie hitting two doubles for his four.

Michal Svojanvsky led Czechia with nine points.

Competitive, just like they were yesterday, the young guns knew that the elusive win was begging to be found.

GB hit the jackpot in game two, seeing off the challenge of hosts Hungary 21-16.

Blake Bowman led the way for GB with eight points, and Veron Eze added seven.

For the first four minutes, both teams traded baskets and leads until Wylie’s back-to-back two-pointers within the space of 30 seconds turned the tide.

Wylie’s second two with 4:01 left gave GB an 11-7 lead. Another double, this time from Bowman, gave Great Britain its biggest advantage of the game, 20-14, with 50 seconds left.

And Bowman put the finishing touches to a fantastic performance with 12 seconds to spare.   

Izsak Tarjan had 10 points for Hungary.

The scene was set ahead of the third-placed game, and Great Britain was up to the task early on, racing out to a 5-0 lead, with three of those coming from Eze and the other two coming from Bowman.

However, with 3:13 to go and Poland pressing, Michal Lis knotted the game at 11-11 with a two-pointer, and from there, Olaniyan’s side was reeling.

That momentum swing proved to be Great Britain’s heartbreaking undoing, and despite a two-pointer from Wylie with six ticks left to narrow the gap to 15-14, but Poland – in a frantic last possession – hung on for third.

Toto Fagbenle, Eze, and Bowman all had four points for Great Britain. Lis led Poland with seven.