GB men make it three in a row
Great Britain played their third game of the tournament against European Champions, Italy, last night (Friday 9th July).
It was GB who came out of the blocks the quickest with the first basket coming from Sagar in the opening 30 seconds of play. An even contest to begin with and continued to be so in a low scoring first 5 minutes with the sides only separated by the 1 point. Italy led the match until the final minute of the first quarter when some great shooting gave GB a 4 point advantage.
Much was the same in the second quarter with GB going strong and a great 3 pointer under pressure from Pollock kept the GB ahead. The home team continued the good offence and not long after, Pollock scored another 3 pointer extending his total to 16 points for the game so far. Italy continued to work hard but the GB defence limited their scoring to just 5 points for the quarter while 22 points for GB extended the lead to 37-16 at half time.
With an established lead on the board GB introduced some of their bench maintaining a strong defence. Key players Pollock, Jama and Sagar each added to their totals with the third quarter finishing 53-34.
Great Britain went into the final quarter with control of the game and another win insight, and continued to limit Italy’s baskets as the defence remained strong.
Both teams matched each other in the final quarter keeping the winning margin at just 20 points for GB to finish the game with a final score of 65- 45.
Overall it was a comfortable win for Great Britain, who won by the same margin last time the two sides met at Manchester back in May. The win sets them up nicely for the next game against Poland on Sunday 11th July.
In the other matches on day three Germany’s women beat China 88 – 50. The Germans dominated from the start and managed to keep a healthy lead throughout the game, Marina Mohnen and Gesche Schunemann scoring well while Chao Yang performed well for the Chinese.
The first men’s match of the day was a close encounter between France and Mexico. The two evenly matched sides fought out an exciting match with the French rallying in the final quarter to run the Mexicans close but Mexico held on to record a 57 – 54 victory. France’s second defeat of the championships leaves them looking to get a first win against Canada on Saturday while Mexico face Turkey.
The USA women recorded their second win of the championships with a convincing 66 – 24 victory over Brazil. Natalie Schneider performed well scoring 14 along with Andrea Woodson-Smith. For Brazil, Monica Santos was the stand out player, her 16 points making up two thirds of the total Brazil score.
Turkey Men weren’t able to follow up their opening win of the championships with a second victory in their match against Australia. The first half was a close encounter as Australia shaded both periods by one point. The second half however proved to be a less tight affair as Australia pulled away and eventually won the match 66 – 54. Ozgur Gurbalak played well, scoring 19 points while Shaun Norris again starred for Australia with a 20 point haul.
Reigning world champions Canada narrowly beat The Netherlands in a hard fought women’s pool A game. The Netherlands will have every right to feel extremely disappointed after leading throughout the game, enjoying at one point, an 11 point lead in the fourth quarter. With just one minute to go Canada were still trailing but a superb final push saw them turnaround the deficit and win the match 58 – 54. Janet McLachlan was once again in superb form, scoring 21 points for the Canadians. Inge Huitzing top scored with 23 points for The Netherlands but she and the rest of her team will have to pick themselves up for their next game against Mexico on Saturday.
The USA Men’s team saw off Poland in a relatively straight forward match to record a second successive victory of the Championships. The USA raced into a commanding lead at the end of the first quarter and made it difficult for Poland from there onwards. The half time score of 46 – 18 effectively ended the match as a contest but some strong defence and effective offence ensured that the final score of 83 – 34 reflected the dominance of the Americans. Joseph Chambers top scored with 22 with Jacob Counts also doing well contributing 14 points. For Poland Krzysztof Bandura top scored with 14 points but also fouled out and will be hoping for better fortunes in the next game against Japan.
The Algeria v Canada men’s game started with both teams evenly matched with good defence in the opening 2 minutes resulting in both missing their shots. However good play by David Eng for Canada opened his and Canada’s account and Algeria responded through Billel Ayache with a one hand shot under pressure. The lead was short lived with a 3 pointer from Joey Johnson and more great offence gave Canada a 9 point lead at the end of the first quarter.
Canada continued the strong play in the second quarter picking back Algeria’s main threat in Billel Ayache and scoring some good team baskets. With the 9 point lead still intact at the half way stage, Canada made full use of the bench. Algeria found the pressing difficult which gave them limited offensive opportunities and allowed Canada to extend the lead to 19 points as they went into the half time break 25-44. In the second half Canada took a hold of the game and started to dominate play from the start of the third quarter. This limited Algeria’s chances with most of their play and baskets coming through Laadjadjat and Billel Ayache. Canada made another 20 points in the third quarter compared to Algeria’s 13 stretching their lead to 26 points with the score at 38-64.
Although Canada enjoyed a large lead going into the final quarter Algeria still carried on playing some good basketball which kept the final quarter close with both teams equalling each other’s 23 points for the final quarter although the overall score ended 61-87 and a good win for Canada.
Japan and South Korea were both looking for their first win of the Championships when they met this afternoon. A lively start to the game between the two Asian rivals saw 14 points scored within the first 5 minutes and Japan took the lead through some great play by Reo Fujimoto. The first quarter remained close with both teams scoring another 6 points each to finish the quarter with Japan leading 16-10. South Korea started the second quarter more strongly much to the delight of their large number of fans in the stands. The good offence paid dividends with South Korea going on a good scoring run and giving themselves a lead of 8 points going into the break. 26-34.
The third quarter started in the same way with both teams matching each other although some great shooting by Masubuchi gave Japan the edge with a 49 – 42 lead going into the final quarter. The strong finish by Japan in the third continued into the final quarter with some great team play and shooting by Miyajima allowing them to go on and extend their lead making it look a more comfortable 16 point win margin and the final score being 71-55.