England's U18 Men got their European Championship campaign off to a perfect start with a 71-58 victory over Israel on Thursday.

 

Luke Nelson finished one rebound short of a double-double with 16 points and Kingsley Okoroh was one point shy of the same with 10 boards, despite playing only 18 minutes.

 

The middle two periods proved crucial as England turned a 19-18 lead after one quarter into a 61-46 lead after three. An 8-0 start of the second had them 27-18 in front and a 9-2 start to the third sparked by a pair of dunks from Okoroh and Rowell Graham saw the up by 13.

 

The lead never dipped below 11 points in the remainder of the contest as England outshot and outrebounded their opponents to start their campaign with a comfortable win.

 

England continue their tournament on Friday with a contest against Belarus, who lost their first game of the tournament to Romania.