\n<\/p>\n
Great Britain made a poor start to the second phase of World Cup qualifying with a 72-57 defeat in Belgium.<\/span><\/p>\n Myles Hesson top-scored for GB with 17 points and Ovie Soko added 13 but they failed to fire offensively against a well-drilled Belgian line-up.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Nate Reinking’s team finished the third quarter well and exerted pressure at the start of the fourth, only to again struggle to sustain a scoring run.<\/span><\/p>\n GB’s next game is on Sunday, when they host group leaders Latvia in Newcastle.<\/span><\/p>\n Coming into the second phase with a single win and bottom of the combined standings, GB needed to win at least four of their second-round games in order to qualify for the finals.<\/span><\/p>\n With Soko, Teddy Okereafor and Luke Nelson restored to the line-up after missing the last round of qualifiers, GB were fielding their their strongest line-up for a while, but their ongoing lack of preparation games showed in a disjointed performance in attack.<\/span><\/p>\n At the start of the fourth quarter, GB upped the tempo and forced Belgium to commit fouls and handling errors, but still could not manage to score consistently.<\/span><\/p>\n “Belgium were the better team on the night and this is a blow to our chances of qualifying,” said GB captain Dan Clark. “We struggled to find the offensive flow we needed – we need to get better in a lot of areas.”<\/span><\/p>\n Group I table<\/strong><\/p>\n (Top three teams qualify for finals)<\/span><\/p>\n GB’s upcoming qualifiers:<\/strong><\/p>\n Sun 28 Aug: GB v Latvia (Newcastle, 18:00)<\/span><\/p>\n Thu 10 Nov: GB v Serbia (venue and time TBA)<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n
<\/thead>\n \n\n Latvia<\/span><\/td>\n 5<\/span><\/td>\n 4<\/span><\/td>\n 1<\/span><\/td>\n 9<\/span><\/td>\n +38<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Greece<\/span><\/td>\n 5<\/span><\/td>\n 3<\/span><\/td>\n 2<\/span><\/td>\n 8<\/span><\/td>\n +17<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Belgium<\/span><\/td>\n 5<\/span><\/td>\n 3<\/span><\/td>\n 2<\/span><\/td>\n 8<\/span><\/td>\n +14<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Turkey<\/span><\/td>\n 5<\/span><\/td>\n 2<\/span><\/td>\n 3<\/span><\/td>\n 7<\/span><\/td>\n -5<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Serbia<\/span><\/td>\n 5<\/span><\/td>\n 2<\/span><\/td>\n 3<\/span><\/td>\n 7<\/span><\/td>\n -5<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Great Britain<\/span><\/td>\n 5<\/span><\/td>\n 1<\/span><\/td>\n 4<\/span><\/td>\n 6<\/span><\/td>\n -59<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n