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The GB Standard Life Men absorbed their first defeat after winning their first five games when FYR Macedonia crushed them 75-56, in the ongoing 2011 EuroBasket Qualifier, Monday.
Bo McCalebb led Macedonia’s surge with his 20 points, giving his team a chance to top their Group depending on how GB will fare in their next two games.
“We are very lucky for this win because now our team is so close to make the final step to go to EuroBasket in Lituania.” McCalebb said.
“In the preparation for this game, we knew we must stop two very good players like Luol Deng and Pops Mensah-Bonsu” added McCalebb, who also recognized the big boost they received from their hometown crowd.
“We did this, and after this it was easy to play, with an atmosphere like here In Skopje.
I’ m sending the very best regards to our fans for every move to help us to make this very, very important win against one of the favorites in this qualifications” He said.
Macedonia was simply too much for the Brits this time unlike their first encounter which ended in a 104-96 overtime win for GB.
Macedonia waxed-hot early in the game and never looked back and built a 43-27 lead at the half. They continue to play well in the second half and even led by as much as 20 points, 58-38, at the end of the third period.
Pops Mensah-Bonsu led Great Britain with his 17 points and 13 rebounds; while Chicago Bulls star Luol Deng chipped in 14 points and collected nine rebounds.
Great Britain Chris Finch admitted that he expected a tough match, but he was surprised with how the home team played and they were caught unguarded.
“I want to congratulate the home team, who played very well. Especially on offense. They made too many shoots. Unfortunately, we didn’t play good. We had some chances, but we lost concentration.” Finch said.
“These things happen. But overall in this game, we didn’t play good basketball, on a high level.
The Macedonians played so aggressive, always pushed us to make mistakes.” he added.
The GB Men are still on top of their group and will have the chance to solidify their bid to finish on top when they face Bosnia on Thursday and Ukraine on Sunday.
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