Britain great again - take Europe for third consecutive wheelchair basketball championship

WORCESTER (2015 European Wheelchair Basketball Championships) - At the end, it was Great Britain back on top for the third straight time on top of the biennial European Wheelchair Basketball Championships.

As in 2013, they beat Turkey, which has become a contender for, if not successor to European mastery.

Great Britain's head coach, Haj Bhania, said: "It's absolutely fantastic to win the European Championships in such style. To come out and win with performance like that against a very strong Turkish team was outstanding."

Two years ago in Frankfurt, the Brits edged out a 59-57 win. This time, on home soil at the University of Worcester arena, it was a decisive 87-66 statement.

At the start of the week though, that conclusion seemed far from certain if even probable.

Through the early stages of the 2015 European, it seemed inevitable that a new champion would be crowned. The two-time defending gold medalists Great Britain started off Group A play with a 50-point win over the Czech Republic but then lost to a good but unfancied Poland by 12 after leading by three at halftime.

They rebounded from that with a 34-point margin over a mediocre French side but were then absolutely dominated by Germany - outscored by 15 and 16 in the second and fourth quarters - in an 89-55 loss. That defeat leveled the Brits at 2-2 in group play with a very dangerous Spain next up. At stake was who would play Group B leaders, unbeaten Turkey, in a Quarter-Final.

"Although we were slight favorites coming into the tournament, we had some tough losses early on but we've got better throughout the tournament and we learnt from those games," said Bhania.

Before they could think about the Turks however, Team GB had to solve a German problem.

The game had 14 lead changes and was tied three times. After GB forged an early eight-point lead, the game remained close. With Germany ahead 66-65, Great Britain went on an 12-2 run to take the win.

"Winning the European Championships for the third consecutive time was never going to be easy and the boys had a lot of pressures on their shoulders coming into this tournament so to get the result has been amazing!"

A Quarter-Final loss would put a team into a one out of four shot at a berth in next year's Paralympic Games in Brazil. With five slots available, a Quarter-Final win would guarantee a trip to Rio.

Turkey, like Germany, would go undefeated in group play while all other contenders would suffer at least two losses. With outstanding performances from players including Ozgur Gurbulak who averaged a triple double for the tournament with 16.4 points, 10.9 rebounds and 12 assists per game, Ferit Gumus 14.1 points and 7.6 rebounds, Cem Gezinci 13.3 points and 8.6 rebounds, and Ismail Ar 10.2 points, Turkey were building a strong case as favorite to win the title.

Though they had played tight contests against Israel and Spain - six- and nine-point wins - in the second and third games of group play, the Turks came into the game as the team to beat.

This was a game where most factors, both measurable and intangible, fell Great Britain's way. Rolling reverse lay-ups and tightly contested shots under the basket spun off the glass and went in. Pesky British hands and hustle created turnovers and when they didn't, Turkey offered up their own, some unforced, some just unfortunate. From long range, the basket was a big and inviting target for Britain and a cruel joker for the Turks.

Down by eight after the first 10 minutes, Turkey cut the lead to four with just over 90 seconds left in the half and the ball in their possession. By the time the horn sounded though, the Brits were up by nine.

A big third quarter increased the gap to 19. The lead grew to as much as 25 before the game ended with the home team winners by 21.

Gurbulak, had been invincible the day before in a 69-50 Semi-Final dismantling of the Netherlands, hitting 7 of 12 three-point shots on his way to a game-high 36 points. In the Final, only 1 of his 8 shots beyond the arc found the center of the net. Cezinci, solid throughout the tournament as evidenced by his 15 points and 11 rebounds in 40 minutes against the Dutch, wasn't a factor in the Final, playing just over 19 minutes, scoring just 6 points.

Terry Bywater led all scorers with 29 points, hitting 3 of 5 on three pointers, and handed out 10 assists while also grabbing 6 rebounds. Ian Sagar added 17 points on 8 of 13 shooting to go with 8 rebounds. Abdi Jama and Ghaz Choudry had a dozen points each, with the latter also dishing out 8 assists.

As a team, Great Britain were marksmen, shooting 60 percent from two-point range, 56 percent from three-point territory and 80 percent from the free-throw line. More remarkably, they were credited with 33 assists on 39 made baskets.

"It's was always going to take a hell of a team to go unbeaten in this tournament," said Bywater, following the Final win. "As you’ve seen Turkey were unbeaten [until the Final] and so were Germany unbeaten until the Semi-Final, that's how close European Basketball is but it all depends on the last game and we got it done."

Germany took third place with a 74-56 win over the Netherlands. Thomas Bohme and Dirk Passiwan led Germany and all scorers with 21 points. Passiwan added 13 assists. Aliaksandr Halouski scored 16 points and pulled down 11 rebounds. The Netherlands were paced by Mustafa Korkmaz's 19 points and 10 assists, supported by Mattijs Bellers and Robin Poggenwisch with 13 and 12 points respectively.

Great Britain have now finished on the podium in every tournament since 2003 (3 titles, 2 second-place finishes, 2 third-place finishes). This was Turkey's third final, all ending with them as runners-up. They lost to Italy in 2009.

With five slots available for European men's teams in the draw for next year's Paralympic Tournament in Rio, all four Semi-Finalists - Great Britain, Turkey, Germany, and The Netherlands knew they were in. The all-important 5th place honour and the last ticket to Rio went to mercurial Spain, 86-55 winners over Italy.

Click here for full results and stats. Click here and here to view the games.

FIBA