It was a successful day for England’s 3x3 basketball teams as all four of them secured their passage to the knockout stages.
The men’s team made it five wins from five as they edged past Malaysia 21-19 at Glasgow’s SEC Centre, with Dwayne Lautier-Ogunleye leading the way with eight points during the clash, while Evan Walshe and Ashley Hamilton both bagged six points each.
They then followed that up with a 21-13 triumph – Walshe top-scoring with eight points – over Singapore to top Pool B and book their place in the semi-finals.
“Going 5-0 is important,” said Walshe. “We've had five different tests against very different opposition. Credit to the group. Everyone has stepped up when their time has come, and we've had five great games to build momentum. We're trending in the right direction.
“There's no doubt that there's more to come. Our message throughout has been one game at a time. We've built steadily, putting blocks on blocks, and I think we're feeling really good going into the knockout stage. We're building a really good body of work.
“All of these teams are tough. They all pose their own threat and bring something different. In a tournament setting, it's really important to face adversity. We're rolling and we're in a good place, but we've got more to come.”
The women’s team bounced back from defeat to New Zealand by recording 21-4 wins over both Papua New Guinea and Tonga.
They finished their pool stage campaign with four wins out of five and qualify for the play-in game, where they will take on Jamaica.
Cheridene Green said: “I’m really happy, we did a great job. We stuck to our game and had fun. There were a lot of smiles out there which is good.
“We learned to bounce back from adversity, be very resilient, stick to ourselves and focus on what we do best, our strengths. There’s going to be wins and losses and it’s how you respond to that. I think we responded well today.”
England’s wheelchair men beat Kenya 21-0 to finish top of Pool A and book their place in the semi-finals, with the wheelchair women doing likewise following a 21-2 win over South Africa.
Peter Cusack of the men's wheelchair team said: “It was a strong performance. We went out there, got the job done, finished the group top and got some reps in, so we're happy. We enjoy a really tough, competitive game. Winning 21-0 has its ups and downs, but it's reps.
“We've got a day off tomorrow without the quarter-finals, so we're going to chill out and have a little training session tomorrow to keep the touch in. Then, once we work out who we've got in our semi-final, we'll start prepping for them.”
