GB fall in Czechia to drop to 1-1

Great Britain Senior Men fell to 1-1 in the EuroBasket 2025 qualifiers after a 90-82 loss at the hands of Czechia on Monday evening in Pardubice.

A 9-0 run to open the third gave Czechia control, while they dominated the glass, including 19 offensive rebounds to overcome another good shooting game from GB.

Carl Wheatle had 17 points, six rebounds and 10 assists, while Sacha Killeya-Jones was everywhere with 19 points, nine rebounds, four steals and three blocks but it wasn’t enough for the side who were trying to make up for Luke Nelson’s absence.

“The run the Czech team made in the third quarter (was key),” Wheatle said after the game.

“We were chasing the game in the second half. We did well to keep the game close, but giving up nearly 20 offensive rebounds is too much. We shot the ball really well but when you give the other team almost 20 more possessions it’s hard to come out with wins, especially playing away from home.

“It’s something we’ve got to learn from. Turnovers were better today, we wanted to control the pace and push the pace, play an uptempo game and we did for large parts of the game that allowed us to stay close.”

Amin Adamu provided a boost off the bench with 14, while Akwasi Yeboah had 12 before fouling out in just 21 minutes.

Tomas Satoransky led Czech Republic with 21 points and 10 assists.

“Congratulations to Czechia on getting the win and the result in what was a very hard fought physical basketball game,” GB Head Coach Marc Steutel said.

“I’m really proud of our group. I thought the game had runs and flows and I thought we did a good job of maintaining that and trying to play a style of basketball that we wanted to and trying to execute a game plan.

“We’d like to do a better job on the offensive glass and try to limit their offensive rebounding for second chance points, that’s something I’d like to review.

“Vut I was really proud of how my group competed and battled, I’ve said to my guys throughout this week that qualification is a long process. We understand we’re in a very competitive group and coming here only magnifies that. `

“But yeah, I think we’ve laid the foundations for the team we can be and how we believe we can be successful for qualification within this group.”

The other game in Group F saw Greece edge Netherlands 74-72.

The next qualifiers will be staged in November when Great Britain take on Greece at home (21 November) and away (24 November).

Box score.

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