London United U18 compete in Europe

Wednesday, 08 June 2011 18:47

The Under-18 London United team travelled to the 24th annual Euro-Espoirs de Basket tournament in Dechy, France taking place between 03.06-05.06.11. The tournament featured such strong outfits like the Netherlands U-20 National Team, Lithuanian’s Wold Students Games team,U-20 Slask Wroclaw and Gravelines U-20 and provided London United with the unique opportunity to compete against top young European players who are in the early stage of their professional careers. It was also a great opportunity for United’s new recruits like Jonathan Swaine, Matt de Haan and Andy Tamayo to establish their place in the team.

In the first game of the group competition London United lost against U-20 Slask Wroclaw 105-71 and then ended on the wrong side of a 101-60 result in game against UAB Lille. Their best performance was saved for the last game of the tournament when London United faced Netherlands U-20 .Despite of significant differences in size, age and experience the young Londoners won the battle on the defensive board and penetrated the Dutch defence with relative ease. London United led by an impressive Elvisi Dusha ended with a credible 81-59 defeat.

The entire tournament was won by the impressive Lithuanian Wold Students Games team which beat BCM Gravelines 91-83 in the final. Third place was captured by UAB Lille which overcame Slask Wroclaw 83-73.