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Great Britain's Flinder Boyd
Great Britain Men’s Team dug a hole for themselves in the first half and they were not able to recover as they suffered their second straight defeat, losing against Holland, 94-83, in their third and final tune-up game in Tel Aviv.
Great Britain, which opened their Tel Aviv stint with a win over Belgium but lost their second assignment against Israel, played without key players Pops Mensah-Bonsu and Nate Reinking, who both rested in anticipation of a tough grind at the EuroBasket 2011 Qualifier.
Matthew Bryan-Amaning carried the load for the Brits tallying a team-high 16 points, while Rob Yanders and Flinder Boyd added 15 and 12 points, respectively.
“With Pops and Nate not playing today it provided an opportunity for some of the young guys to step up. It was good to get them some quality minutes – they played well” said GB Head Coach Chris Finch, who was contented with his team’s performance.
The Brits started out flat giving the Dutch men a lot of opportunities to pull through. Belgium took advantage and built a seven-point cushion in the first period, 27-20. They continued to sizzle in second period and outscored GB, 30-21, to finish the first half with a 16-point lead, 57-41.
GB’s defense caught up in the second half, but it was not enough as Holland held on to their lead to bag their first win of the four-team series.
“Defensively, we really struggled in the first half, giving up a lot of easy looks inside. We were better in the second half, but we’ve still got some work to do” Finch said.
“This was a good tournament for us. Three quality opponents, and now the team is looking forward to kicking things off next week.” he added.
GB will now gear up for the EuroBasket qualifier in Hungary, which is only five days from now, and the team is looking forward to a fruitful stint in the qualifiers.
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