U16 Men finish 16th after OT loss
Sunday, 29-Jul-2012
England’s U16 Men completed their 2012 European Championship campaign on Sunday with a close but unfortunate 72-69 overtime loss to Russia.
The hero of the day was Russia’s Alexander Gavrilov who hit some key free throws at the end of regulation and the overtime period giving his nation the win.
Theo Oghide’s jump shot gave England a 62-61 lead with 45 seconds left but when Gavrilov was sent to the line for a pair with 5 seconds left, the pressure was on for the young shooting guard. He missed the first but sunk the second sending the game into another 5 minute period.
Another clutch jumper by Oghide put England up by one (69-68) with just under a minute left again, but Ilya Karpenkov (the game’s top scorer and rebounder) answered giving Russia a one point lead.
Jules Christian was sent to the stripe with 10 seconds left and the chance to give England a lead, but he missed both. Gavrilov was able to hit both of his free throws seconds later sealing the win for Russia.
Joe Swindells (17 points) and Theo Oghide (16 points) were the top scorers for England while Jules Christian had a good all-round effort with 7 points, 6 steals, 11 assists and 5 rebounds. Karpenkov had 20 points and 15 rebounds for Russia.
Jules Christian had a good tournament statistically leading England in scoring (11.4 points per game) and his four and a half assists per game are currently second-best in the entire European Championship. Theo Oghide led England with 8.4 rebounds per game which, as of Sunday, is sixth best in the tournament.