It was a busy weekend of action in Spain and Germany with Gaz Choudhry top-scoring in Spain, while there was double success for four GB players in Germany during a weekend of double headers.
Spain
World and four-time European champion Gaz Choudhry topped the weekend’s scoring charts in Spain’s Division de Honor, equalling his season’s best total of 27 points, in BSR Amiab Albacete’s 71:81 defeat to league leaders Bidaideak Bilbao BSR.
All five of Albacete’s British players added points to the team’s total, with Lee Manning collecting a game-high 14 rebounds along with his nine points. Kyle Marsh scored 10 points and provided eight assists, while Harry Brown and Ben Fox added three and two points, respectively.
It was a successful weekend for Terry Bywater and Gregg Warburton as they helped CD Ilunion move to third in the table, thanks to two wins in as many days.
Bywater totalled 39 points across the two games, scoring 22 points in Ilunion’s 94:38 victory over Getafe BSR on Saturday before 17 points in their 94:26 win against Fundacion FDI Las Rozas. Game-high assists totals of 11 and 10, respectively, saw Bywater end the weekend with two double-doubles.
Warburton scored eight points in the Getafe win, before four points on Sunday against Las Rozas.
George Bates was the game’s joint-highest points scorer as Mideba Extremadura secured a narrow win in a three-point game against Abdi Jama’s Amivel.
Bates scored 19 points in a 60:57 victory which saw Phil Pratt total 12 points, a game-high 11 assists and nine rebounds, with Billy Bridge adding eight points to Mideba’s total. Abdi Jama scored 12 points for Amivel against his former club.
Saturday proved to be a double celebration for James MacSorley with the 2018 World champion celebrating his birthday with a 75:45 victory over Iberconsa Amfiv. MacSorley scored four points for Gran Canaria, while Lewis Edwards scored three points for an Amfiv side which also included Sam Mack.
Lee Fryer recorded his best game figures of the season so far, posting a season’s best 18 points and a game-high 10 assists in Servigest Burgos’ 50:79 away win at Fundacion Vital Zuzenak – the 2017 U23 World champion just missed out on a triple-double, collecting nine rebounds.
Will Bonner scored three points for Burgos as he also continues his debut season in Spain.
Germany
It was a busy and successful weekend for most of the GB players in action in Germany. Helen Freeman helped RSB Thuringia Bulls continue their winning season to date, with victories against BG Baskets Hamburg (56:80) and Jim Palmer’s Rhine River Rhinos Wiesbaden (61:91).
Freeman scored two points and recorded two assists in the game against Hamburg on Saturday, while Jim Palmer scored four points when the two went head-to-head in Wiesbaden on Sunday.
There was also double success for Simon Brown and Ian Sagar as RSV Lahn-Dill continue to keep the pressure on the league leaders.
Sagar scored five points and Brown two in Lahn-Dill’s 62:82 victory in Hannover on Saturday. Less than 24 hours later, Sagar was Lahn-Dill’s top-scorer in their 84:35 win at home to BBC Munsterland, with Brown scoring four points.
Thomas Smith started both of Baskets 96 Rahden’s weekend away victories, scoring 14 points in their 52:69 victory over BBC Munsterland and 10 points against BG Baskets Hamburg on Sunday (won 71:83).
Most Points (GB players)
27 – Gaz Choudhry (Spain; Albacete)
22 – Terry Bywater (Spain; Ilunion v Getafe)
19 – George Bates (Spain; Mideba)
Most Assists (GB players)
11 – Terry Bywater (Spain; Ilunion v Getafe); Phil Pratt (Spain; Mideba)
10 – Terry Bywater (Spain; Ilunion v Las Rozas); Lee Fryer (Spain; Burgos)
7 – Gaz Choudhry (Spain; Albacete)
Most Rebounds (GB players)
14 – Lee Manning (Spain; Albacete)
9 – Terry Bywater (Spain; Ilunion); Lee Fryer (Spain; Burgos); Phil Pratt (Spain; Mideba); Abdi Jama (Spain; Amivel)
7 – Gaz Choudhry (Spain; Albacete); Thomas Smith (Germany; Rahden v Hamburg)
