By John Rammas/ irammas@eurohoops.net
Milan, Italy – Svi Mykhailiuk with 17 points and Alex Len with 13 despite playing limited minutes led Ukraine to the easy 90-61 win over Great Britain.
It’s not a surprise, however, the game ended up a walk in the part for the winning side in the first contest for Group C in Milan.
Ukraine led from wire to wire after a relatively competitive first half, which ended with GB trailing by 10 (42-32). Still, it was obvious which was the better team and after a double score in the third period (24-12) the game had already ended prematurely.
“It was a great game, everybody played hard, everybody played smart, everybody knew their roles”, said Svi Mykhailiuk after the game.
Luke Nelson with 16 points led the scorers of the losing side, but there’s nothing really good that GB can keep from this game. On the other hand, Ukraine proved that they will fight for a spot in the Round of 16.
GB captain Dan Clark admitted: “We didn’t have the right intensity and focus. Ukraine was really prepared and the game got away from us basically”.
Illya Sydorov was one of the highlights for Ukraine, scoring 10 points in six minutes of action and closing the game in style.
Photo Credit: FIBA.BASKETBALL