An inspired performance from Sylven Landesberg helped Austria to a 96-82 win over Great Britain in the EuroBasket Pre-Qualifiers at the National Basketball Performance Centre.
Landesberg scored 47 of his team’s 96 points, 40 of which coming in a first-half which at one stage saw him have more points than the entire Great Britain team combined.
Great Britain were looking to replicate the success of the women’s team, who themselves qualified for EuroBasket last week.
And Dan Clark’s side got off to the perfect start racing into an 8-0 lead. Although they were pegged back by their Austrian opponents on numerous occasions in a frenetic first-quarter. One which eventually ended 26-26 with the lead changing hands on five occasions.
However, the second quarter was all about the visitors and Landesberg. The Austrian putting on a stellar show to move his team into a commanding position at the interval.
Even the partisan British crowd appreciating his efforts in scoring 25 second-quarter points as Austria held a 60-42 advantage.
Great Britain looked shell-shocked and were facing a mountain to climb heading into the second-half. But they responded well to at least make sure the Austrian lead did not grow any further.
Both Myles Hesson and Andrew Lawrence enjoying excellent games scoring 18 and 16 points respectively. Hesson doing well to limit Landesberg who had a far less successful third and fourth quarter.
Though Austria remained compact defensively and efficient in attack meaning Great Britain never really threatened to overturn the deficit.
They maintained their 18 point lead heading into the final quarter, and although the final 10 minutes of the match saw Great Britain launch a comeback of sorts, it was all too late.
Great Britain now head to Cyprus on Monday knowing they face an uphill battle in their quest for EuroBasket qualification.
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