GB END WITH WHIMPER IN UKRAINE
Both Great Britain's men's and women's basketball teams are going to their respective Eurobaskets - that much was already guaranteed with one game to go. However, they still had some loose ends to tie up in what was effectively their only away double billing, against their Ukrainian counterparts in the city of Dnepropetrovsk. As it was, it was the first time in the campaign that I wasn't able to catch either team's encounters - I was probably either on a Cornish beach or in the waves at that point with very little accsess to the Internet and let's face it, even if I'd been able to get at a TV I wouldn't have been able to watch the match! Still, at least business had been taken care off.
First up were the women's side. They'd already seen off the Ukraine 57-49 in Guildford. That was enough to give them a 2-1 record and the first hint that they might be able to think about an against the odds spot at their 2011 Eurobasket in Poland. Fast forward just over a week and 2-1 had become 4-1 and the shot from way down town had gone in! Tom Maher's ladies headed out east as a team with nothing to prove in their Division A Group D campaign. They had beaten tougher teams than this Ukraine team on opposition courts. Still, that sort of attitude could well have counted against them. Teams with nothing to play for tend to get mugged.
Our girls certainly didn't look like getting mugged early on though. The home side were able to match our opener early in the 1st quarter but other than that they got smothered. They eventually came back late on in the 1st quarter but still, our girls still had the edge at the first buzzer. Early in the 2nd quarter and the Ukraine finally started running the show and kept holding off GB to maintain a 29-24 lead with 5:35 left in the half. And yet our girls were able to come back from that, retaking the lead in the latter stages off the half and by the time the halftime buzzer went Jo Leedham was leading our efforts on 12 points as we lead 41-38.
Our girls went on to extend that lead and eventually found themselves maintaining that solid lead as they led 47-40 with 7:00 left in the 3rd quarter. Unfortunately the Ukraine decided to then really take over and turn the game round spectacularly, the deficit hitting double figures at one point. The early stages of the 4th quarter were very low scoring, partially before of an operation by the Ukrainian defence to shut down a GB comeback. Late on our girls certainly came close but in the end it wasn't good enough. Oleksandra Prystrupa led the way on 17 points as GB succumbed to a 70-66 defeat. Not really what Tom Maher would have had in mind but it's not like he would have been too concerned.
Elsewhere, Slovakia faced Germany in Kosice. Well the 1st quarter turned out to be a tight affair with the Slovakians managing to maintain an edge when the first buzzer sounded. The Germans continued to battle for the lead in the 2nd quarter but still, Slovakia led. The Germans went on to keep things tight early on in the 3rd quarter but Slovakia were in no mood to hang around any longer and went on to show the Germans who's court they were on. The Germans had a good try at a 4th quarter comeback but in the end Lucia Kupcikova grabbed 15 points on the way to a home 73-67 win. That left Great Britain top of Group D on a 4-2 record, ahead of nearest competitors Slovakia on 3-3. Both those teams are going to Poland while Ukraine(also 3-3 but having lost the virtual playoff to Slovakia) and Germany(2-4) are going to be given a second chance in the Additional Qualifying Round.
Next up were the men's team. Now I saw their first game against the Ukraine, it was the second part of the NIA double header. That was a messy game which was only really won in the 4th quarter and the final score of 90-76 flattered us. Still, it meant that we were able to become the only team in Division A to hold a 4-0 record. Since then, our quality of play had been a bit iffy but that didn't stop our guys from coming into their final game with a 6-1 record and a trip to Lithuania pre-booked. The only thing left was to gain that extra bit of credibility by guaranteeing top spot. The Ukrainian guys though certainly aren't mugs so we needed to have our better game on.
The Ukrainians didn't take long to remind our guys that they were a long way from home but GB recovered to take the lead before long and looked competitive for a while after that. Indeed our guys went on to take a 14-8 lead with 3:23 left in the 1st quarter but the Ukrainians made us pay for our defiance and turned the game round again by the first buzzer. Then they really took over in the early stages of the 2nd quarter. In fact they held us scoreless for the best part of three minutes at the end of the half! Serhiy Lischuk was proving to be our main headache on 10 points. We were down 42-32. Still, that was a workable turnaround in theory.
In practice, not so much. The Ukrainians were certainly in no mood for mercy in the early stages of the 3rd quarter. The latter stages of that quarter had long periods of scorelessness and at no point did we look like getting back into the game. There was still time though. The early stages of the 4th quarter saw us on a comeback charge that had us cut the deficit only for the Ukrainians to shut us down for a while before we were not going away any time soon. With less than four minutes left in the game the deficit was down to three. That was as close as they let us get though. Lischuk finished on 20 points with Maksim Pustovonov backing him up on 14. A 75-66 defeat was an annoying way to end the campaign.
Elsewhere, Bosnia faced Macedonia in Sarejevo. The Macedonians, like us were determined to finish top of the group and got people's attention by leading 21-16 at the end of one. The Bosnians replied by taking over in the 2nd quarter and forcing their visitors to come up with something else. The visitors didn't quite manage to find that extra gear in the 3rd quarter and instead settled for treading water, hoping for a later turnaround. Instead though the underdogs finished their higher profile opponents off. Nihad Dedovic was the local hero on this occasion, grabbing 20 points as the Bosnians won 83-71. That left Great Britain top of Group B with a 6-2 record. Both us and Macedonia(5-3 and with a better points difference that the other two 2nd placed teams) are off to Lithuania. Ukraine are 3rd with a 3-5 record and are heading for the Additional Qualifying Round. Bosnia(3-5 with a mixed record against Ukraine and Hungary and a better points difference than one of the other fourth placed teams) are also in the AQR. Hungary(3-5 and worse form than anyone else) face the threat of relegation.
So - now I have to work out how to get to Lithuania.
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