GB cruise past Czechia to round out qualifiers

By Sam Neter on February 24, 2025

Great Britain Senior Men round out their EuroBasket 2025 qualifying campaign with an emphatic 96-75 win over Czechia on Monday night at the Vertu Motors Arena in Newcastle.

Head Coach Marc Steutel got to rotate his squad heavily, with every player seeing at least 12 minutes, led by a GB career-high 21 point outing from Jubrile Belo.

His fellow former Barking Abbey teammate Akwasi Yeboah had 13 points for GB, while Luke Nelson had 12 as all 11 players got on the scoresheet.

With qualification having already been secured on Friday, the victory was not meaningless; it could strengthen GB’s seeding going into this summer’s continental event with a big double-digit victory against a side placed number 19 in the FIBA World Rankings.

There was a minor stutter to end the second quarter when the Czechs trimmed the lead to five points at the half, but a blistering start to the third from the hosts, en route to a 32-18 ambush settled matters once and for all.

“We wanted to tighten up a bit in our defence and our communication,” GB captain Carl Wheatle said about the third quarter performance.

“We did that a little better in the third quarter and we managed to create the gap that then broke open the game.”

Former London Lions star Vojtech Hruban amassed 16 points for Czechia who end their campaign 2-4, but like Great Britain, have also qualified for EuroBasket.

“It was a proud night, a proud defensive performance,” said Great Britain coach Marc Steutel.

“I felt that we had contributions and collective contributions from everybody on the roster. Beyond that, it’s really positive for us to finish the qualifying campaign 4-2 and it’s really positive for us to have an undefeated record at home.”

Quinn Ellis was on the bench in a boot following rolling his ankle against Netherlands on Friday.

Box score.

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