GB Look To Seal 1st Place in Group Against Ukraine

Mensah-Bonsu will look to continue his impresive form

Team GB will look to seal the top spot in Group B of the Eurobasket 2011 qualifiers with a victory against Ukraine later today.

A win for Chris Finch’s team, or a Macedonia loss in Bosnia will see them top the group and should see them get a third seed in next summer’s EuroBasket finals in Lithuania.

Although his team wrapped up their second successive finals appearance with a 94-84 overtime victory against Hungary on Thursday, Finch is still looking for his side to finish their summer campaign with a win:

“We always have something to play for in groups” he said. “Our initial goal was to qualify, but last time we didn’t get a high seeding so we’ll go there and play for the win.”

Ukraine go into the game with all to play for. They currently have a 2-5 record, but a victory should be enough to see them through to next summer’s additional qualifying round where six teams will look to seal the final place in Lithuania.

When the teams met at the NIA a fortnight ago, a strong fourth period performance from GB saw them record a 90-74 victory.

Luol Deng led the way with 28 points to go with his seven rebounds and four assists. Dan Clark had 13 points and nine rebounds while Pops Mensah-Bonsu finished with 15 points and eight rebounds.

Maksym Pustozvonov top scored for Ukraine with 18 points, but it is Serhiy Lishchuk who leads the Ukraine team scoring going into their final game of the summer with an average of 14.6 points and 5.7 rebounds per game.

There should be a live stream to this game online somewhere, so check back later during the day (4pm UK time tip) and I will post the link, if one is found, up on Hoopsfix.

Image Credit: Dan Wooller/Wooller.com