Great Britain Men Drops Three Test Games in USA

Great Britain Men absorbed three-straight disappointments after suffering setbacks in their three-test games in USA as part of their build up for the 2012 London Olympics.

On Friday, Great Britain had a good shot on winning the game, but they blew their chances to take a tough 86-80 overtime defeat against Nigeria in Houston.

Great Britain looked poise to take the win and overcome the dominating performance of former NBA player Ike Diogu, but they blew their chances as the big man, who finished with 33 points, sparked a rally to force an extra period in which they dominated the Brits.

On Sunday night in Houston, the Brits suffered another heartbreaker as perennial world contender Lithuania escaped with a 63-61 win in a tightly-contested ball game.

With the game tied at 61 apiece, veteran Tomas Delininkaitis converted a dagger layup to give the Lithuanians a two-point lead with 2.6 seconds left in the game. Great Britain had a chance to steal the win, but Dan Clark missed a potential game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer.

After two-straight setbacks, Great Britain decided to go with their bench players on Monday night that led to them absorbing a humiliating 87-51 defeat against Russia in San Antonio.

Dan Clark finished with 12 points, while Eric Boateng added 11 points and 14 rebounds for Great Britain, who played without key players Luol Deng, Pops Mensah Bonsu, Joel Freeland, and Robert Archibald after head coach Chris Finch decided to gauge his young players.

“Russia is a very tough team and this game provided an opportunity for our young guys to play against a battle ready team,” Finch said after the game. “Regardless of the score, this provides a great opportunity to evaluate. We created some good scoring opportunities but weren’t able to finish.”

Great Britain will take on Russia again on Thursday in Houston.