GB U18s Edged Out by Hosts in Prep Tournament Opener

By Bradley Gains on July 3, 2017

Great Britain’s Under-18’s suffered a 58-50 loss at the hands of tournament hosts, Italy, in Cisternino, on Sunday evening.

Alan Keane recently cut his squad to 16 players with Ashley Barrett-Briggs, Kayne Henry-McCalla, Callan Low and Adria Amabilino-Perez not included in the 12 that travelled to southern Italy.

Jacob Round was the leading scorer in the contest for the visitors with nine points, while Hosana Kitenge and Caleb Fuller added eight and seven points respectively.

“The first game of preparation period is always exciting to play,” Coach Keane commented.

“We finally get to really see what we can do, what we can improve and how much synergy we have. Defensively we did relatively well and showed potential to be very good. Offence is a different story, but that is expected after only two camps.

“We will continue to develop key areas, challenge and support all players. Most importantly right now, we need to be patient but relentless with our process.”

GB were within a single point at 45-44 in the final quarter after an 11-0 start to the fourth, but fell short following a strong finish from the hosts.

After a positive 2-6 start, GB found themselves trailing 17-14 at the end of the first and the gap would be doubled going into half-time at 30-24.

GB were then held to just nine points in the third period as the Italians once again doubled their advantage to a 45-33 lead. A rallying start to the final period brought GB back within a single point, but were unable to take the lead and a 13-6 close ensured Italy prevailed as the victors.

Full scorers (FG): Round 9pts (3/5, 1/6 3PT); Kitenge 8pts (2/5); Fuller 7pts (2/2); Spence 6pts (3/5); Boachie-Yiadom 5pts (1/6); Savery-Richards 3pts (1/3); Ogundele 3pts (1/2) Robinson 3pts (1/1 3PT); Amabilino-Perez 2pts (1/2); Cleary 2pts (1/3); Russell 2pts (1/1)

GB shot 16-of-35 from inside the arc, 2/8 from outside and made 12 of their 21 free throw attempts.

You can re-watch the game here.

GB U18 Squad in Italy

Brian Amabilino-Perez, England, Derby Trailblazers
Nelson Boachie Yiadom, England, Loomis Chaffee (USA)
Kaiyem Cleary, England, Manchester Magic
Caleb Fuller, England, Ipswich
Hosana Kitenge, England, Worthing Thunder
Pierce Maslen, England, Barking Abbey
Joshua Ogundele, England, Barking Abbey
Nathan Robinson, England, Las Lomas, Walnut Creek (USA)
Jacob Round, England, Fuenlabrada (ESP)
Sesan Russell, England, Loughborough Student Riders
Micah Savery-Richards, England, Leeds Force
Romario Spence, England, Charnwood College

GB U18s are back in action today against Ukraine at 5pm local time.

Also, check out assistant coach Ian MacLeod’s daily updates from Cisternino here.

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