POLAND PROLONG BRITAIN'S SLUMP - Hoopsfix.com

POLAND PROLONG BRITAIN’S SLUMP

kieron_achara_568Poland thrashed Great Britain 85-66 on Saturday in Lublin as Joe Prunty was left with more than his impending squad cuts to concern him.

Only a 10-0 run in the fourth quarter saved some of the visitors blushes as they faded to a fourth heavy loss in a row.

And it could have been even worse after the Poles – paced by 18 points, all three-pointers – from Thomas Kelati –  stormed into an early 24-12 advantage before pulling out to a 55-29 half-time lead.

After extending the gap to 73-44 with ten minutes left, it needed a rally to add a small touch of respectability.

“I’m pleased with our fourth quarter showing, a lot of positives shown, guys like Myles Hesson and Gareth Murray played positively but I got to look at the whole game really,” Prunty said.

“We still have to get better and EuroBasket isn’t far away now.”

Kieron Achara had a team-best 11 points for GB with Eric Boateng and Andrew Sullivan adding each.

Phoenix Suns centre Marcin Gortat had 14 points in 17 minutes for the hosts.

Prunty is now set to confirm his 12-man roster for EuroBasket but with only two friendlies with Spain this week to come before his team arrives in Slovenia, the portents are not good.

We want to be a defensive team, that’s not a question and we are not there right now,” Prunty added. “Offensively, we want to share the basketball. Again, we are not there right now.

“We had eight assists to Poland’s 25, so we have lots still to work on and not much time to do it, but the fourth quarter was a positive and we can take confidence out of that.”