Great Britain lost their sixth straight World Cup qualifier, 74-68 to Serbia in Newcastle, and have now been knocked out of the tournament.
New captain Gabe Olaseni led GB with 20 points, Luke Nelson had 15 and Patrick Whelan added 10.
Although they came back from a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter, GB couldn’t break their losing streak.
The team now travels to Latvia for another qualifying match on Monday, where they will have nothing but pride in playing.
GB gave the first selections to centers Aaron Menzies and Josh Sharma and 19-year-old guard Quinn Ellis in the team’s first game following the retirement of veteran center and captain Dan Clark.
In front of a raucous Newcastle crowd, but with recent top scorer Myles Hesson out with Ovie Soko injured, GB looked their most dangerous when Nelson was on the pitch early and he had 13 points by half-time.
But Serbia gave him little chance to add to that in the second half. The scoring charge then fell on experienced center Olaseni, who stepped in with 12 points in the third quarter, half of those coming from the foul line.
In the fourth quarter, Nelson came back to spark a 7-0 run to extend Serbia’s lead to two points, but that was followed by two missed three-point shots that let Serbia off the hook.
“I’m proud of the guys,” Olaseni said after the game. “When we get a level playing field like other teams, we can compete with the best in Europe. It’s either victory or misery for us right now.”
Table of Group I
