England U18s Fall to Turkey in Opener

By Sam Neter on July 19, 2013

England Under-18s came close to upsetting one of the tournament favourites, Turkey, in their Division A European Championship opener, but ultimately went down 76-58 on Thursday evening in Latvia.

With seven minutes remaining, the game was tied at 58, but from there Turkey reeled off 18 unanswered points to secure the victory.

“We played against an outstanding team today with some excellent individual players on display. They had lots of quality to choose from and their team was steadfast and disciplined in their tactics,” said head coach Steve Bucknall after the game.

“In the end their quality and depth put us under tremendous pressure in the 4th quarter. As the head coach it is my responsibility to prepare my team for end of game situations so I will have to do better. Overall the team gave their best out on the court.”

Jules Dang Akodo led England with 12 points on 4/6 shooting in just 19 minutes, whilst Dwayne Lautier-Ogunleye joined him as the only other player in double figures with 11. Mo Soluade and Luke Nelson were held to just 15 points on 6/26 shooting between them.

England will now take on Ukraine, who they beat in their preparation games in Italy, at 2:15pm UK time on Friday afternoon.

Box score.

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