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.
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.
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