Great Britain men’s basketball head coach Joe Prunty admits his side let their composure slip at the crucial time as they fell to a 83-70 loss to Iceland in their opening EuroBasket qualifier.
The first of four qualification games, the team were looking to get off to a good start in order to secure top spot in their three-nation group and with it a place in next year’s EuroBasket finals.
However Great Britain were slow out of the blocks in Iceland, finding themselves 20-4 down inside the first quarter, before Kieron Achara’s arrival off the bench and nine straight points from Dan Clark ensured the scores were level 34-34 at half time.
Seizing the momentum, Great Britain raced into a 43-36 lead but Iceland came again taking a slender 59-58 lead heading into the final quarter.
And it would be the hosts who outplayed their opponents in the final ten minutes to take victory by 13 points.
Prunty’s men get the chance to respond against Bosnia and Herzegovina at London’s Copper Box Arena on Wednesday and the head coach had already pinpointed where they needed to improve if they wanted to make a fourth-straight finals.
“We struggled at the beginning but did a nice job of staying composed and battling back,” he said.
“We talked about composure in the third quarter when we got the lead. Too many lay-ups and turnovers hurt us down the stretch."
© Sportsbeat 2014