Clark Leads GB Senior Men to Victory Over Israel to Complete Prep

By Bradley Gains on August 26, 2017

Great Britain Senior Men completed their preparations ahead of EuroBasket 2017 with a convincing 85-64 victory over Israel in Legionwo, Poland, on Saturday.

Joe Prunty’s side had been beaten by Israel when the two sides met in Tel-Aviv earlier this month having also played behind closed doors – and will meet again in the World Cup Qualifiers.

GB followed up a victory over Hungary on Thursday and won the tournament due to a superior head-to-head record over Poland and Israel as a result of winning their final game by more than 18 points.

Standings: GB 2-1, Poland 2-1, Israel 2-1, Hungary 0-3

Head-to-head tie-break:
GB 1-1 (+11)
Poland 1-1 (+7)
Israel 1-1 (-18)

Dan Clark fired in 25 points on 8-of-10 shooting with Luke Nelson and Gabe Olaseni adding nine points apiece.

🔥🔥🔥 Dan Clark currently shooting 6-of-7 from 3-point range for 23 points as @gbbasketball lead by 17. 🇬🇧🏀

📷 @IAmAhmedphotos pic.twitter.com/Zv8o8Y8vR0

— Hoopsfix 🇬🇧🏀 (@Hoopsfix) August 26, 2017

Teddy Okereafor moved into the starting rotation and finished with eight points, six rebounds and five assists in an all-round display.

Box score.

Clark set the tone with a three to opening the scoring and added a second in an 11-3 start for GB. The veteran forward quickly moved into double figures with GB extending their advantage to 26-16 at the end of the first.

An even second period followed before GB scored the final five points, including another trey from Clark to move 45-30 ahead heading into the half-time break.

GB continued to heat up from downtown in the third, particularly Clark as he netted twice more from deep to make it a 20-point gap at 61-41. The gap was reduced to 14 by the end of the third as Israel enjoyed a bright finish to the period.

GB’s lead was cut to 11 at 67-56 early in the fourth, but Clark moved to 25 points to spark a 12-0 run including triples from Kyle Johnson and Jules Dang Akodo off the bench.

Both teams traded triples with Johnson and Dang Akodo both netting again as GB wrapped up a convincing victory.

Israel had four players in double figures including naturalised American Richard Howell and Golden State Warriors’ forward Omri Casspi.

GB face Belgium in their EuroBasket 2017 opener in Istanbul against Belgium on Friday.

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