ENGLAND PICK UP MAIDEN WIN
England’s men claimed a 100-54 win over India to get off the mark at the Commonwealth Games.
Adam Thoseby led with 20 points overall, with Kofi Josephs and Jamell Anderson adding 14 each as their team moved to 1-1 in group play.
“It was a rough start but England came out stronger as a team and better than we thought we could and I was not worried about our offensive tactics at all,” said Thoseby whose side now face a decisive clash with Cameroon on Sunday.
“Winning tonight by such a huge margin and making triple figures was a great confidence boost. We obviously needed the win tonight to get through and with our early start tomorrow, it’s time to rest now and come back stronger.”
Scotland, led by 25 points from Gareth Murray, claimed a 63-52 victory over Cameroon which secured their spot in the second phase.
A 15-4 start boosted Rob Beveridge’s men but they had to hold off a fightback from their rivals in the third period.
“Cameroon fought very, very hard, especially in the second half,” said Kieron Achara. “They really took us by surprise and I am so happy with our team’s composure.
“I stayed calm, we stayed calm and got some free throws. Gareth was huge for us tonight, a great leader and he helped us win.”
Canada too strong for England
A three-point barrage from Canada consigned England’s women to an 80-54 loss on the opening night of the women’s competition at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Townsville.
With scores level at 15-15 at quarter-time, the Canadians went on a long-range scoring spree in the second and third quarters as they connected on eight of 15 attempts to bust the game wide open. In contrast, England could have been forgiven for believing that there was a lid on their basket for large sections of the game as they made just four of 20 attempts from beyond the arc
There were no such problems for Georgia Jones, however, as the 28-year-old finished with a team-high 11 points including 40% from the three-point line.
“Their defence was tough,†Jones said. “They knew what we were going to do and we weren’t able to get into our rhythm I don’t think. We struggled. They just played a really good game tonight. It was hard for us to get into the flow on offence and the same on defence because they run the floor.â€
With the top-two teams in Pool A advancing directly through to the semi-finals on the Gold Coast, England will be hoping to bounce back at 2:30am Sunday morning UK time when they face Mozambique before a final round blockbuster against Australia.
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