Men's Basketball: Scotland v Wales

Andrew Smith of the University of Edinburgh was a surprise starter for Scotland on Wednesday night, and he made excellent use of his time on court, scoring 8 points to go with six rebounds, three blocks and a steal, while shooting 100% from the floor and the free throw line. It was a comfortable win for the Scots, who needed the victory to have any chance of winning the competition going into their match with England the next day.

Garreth Lodge came out aggressively in the first quarter, and scored the first six points for his team. Dan Donnelly, Neil Fraser and Scott Frew all registered points for Scotland in the first five minutes, forcing the Welsh Coach, David Norrington, to call a time-out with the score at 12-2. James Dawe hit consecutive three pointers to bring the Welsh within four, and they got within three after Lawson answered Dan Donnelly’s next basket with a three with just over three minutes to play, before  a 12-0 scoring run from the hosts took the lead to 26-1 at the end of the quarter.

The second quarter began with a big block from Scott Frew, which sparked a fast break leading to a lay-up for Kevin Scott. Scotland went up 23 at the half-way stage of the period, as Donnelly scored off a nice assist from Lodge, and the Scots called a time-out to catch their breath. Zasimauskas knocked down one of his three three-pointers soon after, and Scotland entered the half-time break with a lead of 39-18. The third continued in much the same manner, and Ian Black hit a three-pointer, followed by a brace of triples from Zasimauskas, to put Scotland up 52-24. Donnelly scored twice more, before Wales scored on the fast break through Apaolaza to make the score 60-34 to the home side entering the final ten minutes.

Scotland used the final period to test a new defensive scheme, and it paid immediate dividends with two steals. Foan Nickson converted a lay-up after a nice spin move under the basket, before Black answered with another three for Scotland, and the game petered out with little threat to the Scottish lead.

Players of the game

Scotland: Zasimauskas top-scored for Scotland today, with 18 points to go with five rebounds and 3 assists. Dan Donnelly racked up 17 points on 8/14 shooting, while Scott Frew’s 14 rebounds (5 offensive), 3 steals and 3 blocks were a great addition to his 6 points.

Wales: James Dawe’s 19 (4/7 3pts) points were a game-high, and he also notched 5 steals. Matt Garton, Foan Nickson and Duncan Rae were a good combination under the boards for Wales, with 12, 10 and 11 boards respectively, with Nickson also scoring 17 points and blocking 2 shots.