England's U16 Men are now amongst four teams looking to play for one spot in the European Championship Division A next summer after they lost their final preliminary game against Croatia, 78-54, on Saturday in Latvia.

 

England joins Russia, Slovenia and the Czech Republic in the Classification Round for 13th-16th place, with only the top team in this four-nation group safe from relegation to Division B in 2013. The first Classification game for England will be on Monday against Czech Republic in Vilnius, Lithuania.

 

Croatia led for nearly the entire game on Saturday, but it wasn't until the final period that they established complete control and ended with the 24 point win. Croatia led 55-45 heading into the fourth but outscored England 23-9 in the final period.

 

Dwayne Lautier-Ogunleye led England's scoring with 13 points and he also had 7 rebounds. Justas Musikevicius had a double-double (11 points, 10 rebounds) for England while Jules Christian had another good all-around outing with 8 points, 3 rebounds and 5 assists.

 

Four Croatian players hit double digits but Lovro Mazalin was their chief contributor with 21 points and 11 boards.