England kept their medal hopes alive at the 2018 Commonwealth Games with a crucial 81-54 victory over Cameroon, in Townsville, on Sunday morning.
Andreas Kapoulas’ side prevailed in the must-win clash to secure a top-two spot in Pool B as they now advance to the Qualifying Finals alongside Scotland – who secured their spot on Saturday.
Kofi Josephs fired in 26 points on 7 of 11 shooting from 3-point range, while Adam Thoseby added 15 points – all in the second half to lead the way for England.
England were behind early on before putting together an 11-0 run to take control before conceding the final five points as their lead was cut to five at 20-15. Josephs hit a couple of threes in the second, but Cameroon kept England from breaking clear with the gap only narrowly increased to six points heading into half-time at 37-31.
Callum Jones (@40cal_jones ) with the pretty up and under move 💧🏀#GC2018 #GC2018basketball pic.twitter.com/wsWV6IHW4y
— Hoopsfix 🇬🇧🏀 (@Hoopsfix) April 8, 2018
Thoseby scored England’s first nine points of the second half as part of a 17-4 start to push the lead out to 20 points. They outscored Cameroon 29-14 in the third period to take a commanding 66-45 lead into the final quarter with Josephs and Thoseby combining for 32 points at this stage.
Just five points were scored in the opening seven minutes of the fourth before Josephs landed his sixth and seventh triples with England closing out their second win in as many days in style.
– England started with Jones, Thoseby, Jackman, Walker & Gilchrist
– England likely to face the loser of tomorrow’s New Zealand v Canada encounter
– This was England’s second pool win after beating India on Saturday
– Scotland also advance to Qualifying Finals ahead of their final pool game against India
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