GB Get OT Upset Over Israel in Opener - Hoopsfix.com

GB Get OT Upset Over Israel in Opener

Great Britain couldn’t have asked for a better start to their 2013 Eurobasket campaign, with a 75-71 overtime upset victory over Israel in their opener on Wednesday afternoon in Slovenia.

With the scores tied and time running down in overtime, Kyle Johnson finished the lefty layup to put GB up by two with 15 seconds left, before Drew Sullivan came up with a huge defensive stop and then sank the two ensuing free throws to seal the victory.

GB capitalised on Israel’s missed free throws down the stretch, coming from nine down in the fourth quarter to force the extra period after Andrew Lawrence made two free throws with 12 seconds left, and then rallied once more after falling behind late in overtime, scoring the final eight points of the game to take the win

“We had a good lead and then we came to a situation where we were missing free throws and that was the game,” said Israel coach Arik Shevik. “We made one-from-10 at the end of the game and that is really unacceptable at this level.”

Head coach Joe Prunty made it clear they are not getting ahead of themselves after one game.

“It’s a great win, but we move on to the next one now,” he said. “You have to enjoy them, but we will enjoy this for the rest of this press conference and then look forward.

“They all deserve credit. Kyle made big plays and made big shots all night. People will look at the box score. But he did some amazing things defensively all night too. He had some big rebounds for us and competed at a high level at both ends of the floor.”

Britain now meet group favourites, France, on Thursday and Prunty will again ask his side to rise up.

“They’re obviously one of the top teams in the world,” he said. “That goes without saying. It is going to be tough competition for us.”

Johnson had 22 points to lead GB, Kieron Achara had an 18 point, 13 rebound double double and Myles Hesson had 14 points.

GB take on 2011 EuroBasket runners-up, France, on Thursday evening (20:00 BST) in the Slovene capital.

Box score.

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