Great Britain Under-20s Beat Poland in First Prep Game

Image credit: Pete Simmons/5or6

Great Britain Under-20s continued prep ahead of their upcoming Division A campaign at the European Championships with a 73-82 victory over Poland, in Radom.

Carl Wheatle – who was also part of the GB Senior Men’s team earlier this week – led the way with a 19-point haul on 8 of 13 shooting along with five rebounds and three assists in the win.

Sesan Russell was also in double figures with 12 points, while Romario Spence, Caleb Fuller, Sean Nealon-Lino and Zion Tordoff all added eight points apiece in a balanced attack.

“I am pleased with certain elements of our play and of course there are areas for improvement,” said Head Coach, Marc Steutel.

“The group have really worked hard in camp and were looking forward to this first test. We are really focussing on the performance at this stage and I feel the group have started to understand how we can have a successful campaign.

“We will be working to improve our overall play and look forward to a challenging game two.”

GB raced out to a 14-4 start against Poland – who will compete in Division B – and extended their advantage to a 15-point cushion by the end of the opening period at 14-29.

The gap hit 20 points midway through the second period, but the home side rallied to halve the deficit in the third having trailed by 17 at half-time. GB restored that advantage at 50-67 with 10 minutes remaining and were able to close out the victory ahead of the second game on Thursday.

Steutel’s side will take on Turkey in their tournament opener in Chemitz, Germany on July 14.

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