England U18s Secure First Division A Win with Victory Over Ukraine

By Sam Neter on July 20, 2013

The England Under-18s secured their first ever win in Division A with a 93-81 victory over Ukraine on Friday afternoon at the European Championships in Latvia.

With England holding a slim 5 point lead with just under 4 minutes left, Luke Nelson scored 9 consecutive points to give head coach Steve Bucknall’s side a double digit cushion heading into the final 2 minutes.

“It was a good bounce back performance by the team which showed our character and depth,” said Bucknall after the game. “We were able to absorb their pressure and combat their huge scoring run. Eventually it was a gutsy performance from the team which gave us our first win in the tournament.”

24 fast-break points and five double-digit scorers proved to be the key to England’s win, turning a 41-34 halftime deficit into a 12-point win.

Nelson finished with a game-high 25 points while point guard Jules Dang Akodo collect eight assists to go with nine points. Kingsley Okoroh had 14 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals and 6 blocks to lead England’s defensive effort.

With Turkey’s victory over Croatia later on in the day, England are confirmed as qualified for the second round of the European Championship regardless of Saturday’s results

They will face Croatia at 6:45 UK time on Saturday to complete their opening round games.
Box score.

Image Credit: FIBA Europe/Martins Silis

Do you like our work?

We have a tiny favour to ask. In 2018 we set out to make Hoopsfix sustainable by building our relationship directly with our readers. Up until now, Hoopsfix has been creating editorials, videos and podcasts to provide sorely missing coverage of the British game and its distinct culture and community.

We have funded Hoopsfix with our freelance work creating basketball media, but sadly that means not only does it fall behind our client’s priorities, but some of those clients are the same organisations we need to report objectively on putting us in a conflicted position.

We want to devote more time to our mission of helping British basketball reach its potential, and produce even more content for the basketball community by making Hoopsfix a sustainable 100% independent business funded directly by our readers through Patreon.

If everyone who enjoys our content chose to support us, our future would be much more secure. For as little as $3 per month, you can support Hoopsfix – and it only takes a minute.

We are tremendously honoured and humbled to have a community of people who value what we do, and we look forward to being at the forefront of the British game as it continues to evolve.

Support Hoopsfix