ENGLAND 68 - 62 CZECH REPUBLIC
Heading into the final game, the stakes were high for both sides with the outcome of the game deciding who takes the final spot of the qualifying places to head into the next round. England and Czech Republic both went into the game on the back of one loss and both defences started fantastically limiting the number of points on both sides of the court. Astonishingly, we scored four points in the first quarter, trailing by 8. The second quarter was much of the same with both offences struggling to break down the D and gather any momentum. At the half time interval the Czech Republic had a lead of 26-21 in what was an extremely low scoring half. The third quarter was an exact replica of the first however this time, we found ourselves on the positive end of it scoring 22 points to Czech Republic's 9 thanks to David Carter and Christopher Whyman collecting the majority of the points which saw England take a slender lead into the fourth, leading by 43-35. England picked up where they left off in the third gaining a double digit lead with 4 minutes remaining however the Czech players continued to push and were rewarded with a couple of threes to bring the score back to a single possession game. In the dying stages of the game, the momentum shifted once more to see England regain a seven point lead and close out the game with some clinical FT's to send the delirious English fans into celebration.
The game was pretty similar to last week really with us guessing a GDP and having to normal the game. I know I've said this most weeks but our defence was quality today and got us over the finish line in the end. Despite scoring four points in the first quarter and only 21 by half time, I thought the offence done ok considering the quality of opposition we were up against. I was also very impressed with our rebounding today as Mark Salley and Christopher Whyman gobbled up boards left, right and centre.
As I said last week, I never thought we'd have the chance to be pushing for qualification out of the round robin but due to the strength and depth of the team this season, we have achieved something very special indeed and have the chance to prove ourselves even more against the big-boys of Europe. I personally have to thank every manager of every player so far as the game shape has been impeccable all season, so thank you all.
Now we go onto next week, the draw hasn't been made yet but we will be competing against some of the elite U21 sides in Italy, Spain, etc..
Last edited by js8 at 9/28/2015 5:42:39 PM