England U18 Men used a dominant first half performance to remain unbeaten in the European Championship with a 60-55 win against Romania on Saturday.

 

After spotting their opponents an 8-4 lead England scored 12 consecutive points to move eight ahead in the opening quarter. Romania hit back to get within one point in quarter two, but a 17-2 end to the half saw England go into the locker room with a 41-24 lead. At that stage Luke Nelson (15) and Kingsley Okoroh (10) had outscored the Romanians between them.

 

Nelson ended with 19 and Okoroh with 11 as the England offense dried up in the second half and a 10-0 run for Romania at the start of the fourth quarter made it a one point game. A tense period of four minutes with no points for either team ensued until Rowell Graham broke the drought and Nelson followed it up with his third three pointer of the game to give England a lead which they were able to maintain.

 

England face Hungary on Tuesday, who were unbeaten in the tournament until they were beaten by 20 points by Israel on Monday.