London 2012: GB’s men lose half-time lead to miss out on Olympic qualification

Saturday, August 4, 2012
10:37 PM

Men’s basketball - Group B:

Australia 106 Great Britain 75

Britain’s men are unable to qualify for the quarter-finals after their fourth successive Olympic defeat, losing a 10-point half-time en route to a heavy defeat.

Victory over Australia would have left GB’s fate in their own hands going into their final group B match against China – and they were on course to do so after leading 48-36 at the start of the second half.

However, the hosts were unable to retain their advantage and lost the third quarter by 16 points en route to another defeat.

Britain fielded Pops Mensah-Bonsu and Drew Sullivan, who both represented Haringey in the London Youth Games as teenagers, as well as the NBA’s Loul Deng, who started his basketball career in Croydon.

The home nation started well with Sullivan finishing off an effort from Tottenham’s Mensah-Bonsu, who added the second score as GB took an early 6-0 lead.

They extended that advantage as Dan Clark netted three three-pointers, leaving Britain 25-18 at the end of the first quarter – and Deng and Sullivan added further scores as the hosts went into half-time 10 points up at 46-36.

However, the visitors quickly battled back and won the third quarter 30-14 to lead 66-60 after the third quarter, before completing their rout to win by more than 30 points.

Britain will conclude their Olympic campaign against China on Monday.