Great Britain Senior Men Drop to 0-3 After Defeat in Israel

Image credit: Mansoor Ahmed/Ahmedphotos

Great Britain Senior Men fell to their third straight defeat in the FIBA World Cup Qualifiers after suffering an 82-75 loss to Israel, in Tel Aviv on Friday afternoon.

Alberto Lorenzo took charge of his first game as stand-in Head Coach and his side had a double-digit lead in the second half only to endure a costly close to the third period as the momentum swung in favour of the hosts.

Gabe Olaseni top scored on his return with 19 points along with eight rebounds, while Gareth Murray and Luke Nelson had 12 points apiece.

“First of all, I would like to congratulate Israel – I think they played a really smart game and they moved their players perfectly right until the end,” stated Lorenzo.

“For us, I thought we did a good job in the first half and during the first minutes of the third quarter. But, we kind of lost that advantage, so for me, that is [where we lost] the momentum of the game.

“At the end we were in a situation of switching on defence and we were still involved in the game, but we made many turnovers in the fourth quarter.”

“I don’t know exactly the time that we lost our advantage [in that third quarter] but it was in just two or three minutes,” added Lorenzo.

“At that time, the mind of the players switched and we started to feel like we were losers [in the game].”

Box score.

GB made a bright start as Gareth Murray’s three capped a 7-0 opening, but it was not long before the hosts moved ahead. Teddy Okereafor tied the game at 16-16 with his first three and GB edged ahead at 18-20 following four points from Rob Gilchrist in his competitive bow.

Will Saunders was next to make his impact from the bench with back-to-back threes to give GB a five-point advantage, but they would need more outside scoring from Okereafor to head into half-time with a slender lead at 43-44.

GB came out of the break producing at both ends as they held Israel to four points in the opening five minutes, while Luke Nelson’s three made it a 10-point game. However, turnovers and lapses in defence allowed the hosts to respond as they closed on a 15-2 run to lead 64-61 ahead of the final period.

The deficit was as large as six early in the fourth before a quick 5-0 burst gave GB hope. Israel answered and continue to keep the visitors at bay until a banked three from Gareth Murray put GB ahead at 72-73.

The response was immediate with a four-point play from Guy Pnini followed by a score inside from Richard Howell as the gap was back out to five points inside the final two minutes.

Nelson’s dunk made it a one-possession game once more, but Pnini’s clutch jumper was followed by an offensive foul and Israel were able to ice the game from the line.

GB now have an 0-3 record in Group H ahead of their game against Greece in Herkalion on Sunday at 4pm UK time.

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