Eventhough France and Australia played out the game of the day at the Olympic Basketball Arena, day two will be remembered for Great Britain’s memorable fightback against Croatia. Unfortunately for the hosts, GB narrowly missed out, as Croatia edged it 75-70.
After a solid first ten minutes, where Great Britain enjoyed a double-digit advantage at 13-3, and led at the end of the first, 18-12. The momentum seemed to change as Croatia bagged their first lead in the second period at 22-21.
The Croats then found their feet and displayed a three-point clinic as GB had no answer at the other end. Croatia went to the locker room 35-23 to the good at the interval.
Croatia continued to pile on the points as they enjoyed a lead of 17 heading to the final period.
Then Great Britain burst into life, roared on by a previously library-like crowd.
Joel Freeland, who led the Brits with 22 points, inspired a 14-0 run that stunned the Croatians, and excited the crowd inside the Basketball Arena, as GB cut the lead from 17 to just three thanks to a Ogo Adegboye mid-range jumper with over three minutes remaining on the clock.
But they couldn’t jump Croatia’s hurdle – and they hung on for the win.
Day two’s other games saw Australia and France play out a thriller with the latter sneaking a 71-66 victory to remain unbeaten in the Test Event series, while the Boomers suffered their first defeat.
France kept the lead for the majority of the contest, but Australia kept in touch throughout, setting up a tense finale. Tony Parker led the French with an impressive 27 points.
China found themselves on the receiving end of their second thumping in two days, as this time they were beaten by Serbia, 87-53.
Milos Teodosic led the Serbs with 19 points, but it was Yi Jianlian who led all scorers with 20 points in vain for China, who lost Wang Shipeng for around 4-6 weeks with a broken wrist.
