England Lose To Ivory Coast

In what was going to be a challenging game from the outset, England’s Senior Men’s squad went down 82-61 to Ivory Coast in their French Summer League campaign yesterday.

Manchester Magic’s David Tintin Watts led England in scoring with 17 points and 6 rebounds, Ben Eaves was the only other player in double figures with 13, whilst Mike Williams and Sam Cricelli added 8 each.

Head Coach Paul James wasn’t too disappointed:

“This was a step up in level from the Luxembourg game. Ivory Coast are one of two teams we are playing this week who are preparing for the World Championships in Turkey, the other being Tunisia who we play next.

It was still a five point game going into the fourth quarter when we missed four foul shots in a row whilst stopping them from scoring. We were a very poor 10/23 from the foul line and at this level, that’s going to hurt your chances of winning any game. This was the closest we would get.

The players should not be to down on themselves as this was a huge learning curve that we have to deal with and get through the other side as better players. “

England were huge underdogs going into the game as the African side have brought their full World Championship squad to the tournament.

England face Tunisia tonight before wrapping up their tournament games of Friday with a game against Belgium under-23s.