International

Jul 18 2022

Latvian defeat sets up crucial Bulgarian challenge for Ireland U20 men

Ireland have dropped to 1-1 at the FIBA U20 Men’s European Championship following a 72-59 defeat to Latvia in Georgia on Sunday night.

Superb performances from CJ Fulton and Samuel Alajiki were not enough, as Ireland will rue a slow start that allowed the Latvians amass a 12-point lead they would never relinquish. Paudie Fleming’s team now face a crunch match against unbeaten Bulgaria (2-0) on Wednesday afternoon at 1:45pm, to decide their potential seeding for the knockout phase.

Despite the aforementioned slow beginning, Ireland gave as good as they got in the following two quarters. Fulton and Alajiki leading from the front, logging over 35-minutes each on the court and combining for 34 of Ireland’s 59-points on the night. Fulton’s 50% shooting from the floor complimented by a game high 7-rebounds and 6-steals, gaining valuable extra possessions for his team. The Lafayette College man showing all his experience when the game could have gotten away from this young Irish team.

☘️ U20 men’s team are currently down 64-52 with five mins left to go in the fourth in their second @FIBA European Championships game.

📺 WATCH: https://t.co/gj2lMcs3iE #TeamIreland | #GreenMeansGo 🔋 pic.twitter.com/UTTHyKHHJA
— Basketball Ireland (@BballIrl) July 17, 2022

Alajiki showed a similar prowess on the boards, picking up five throughout the contest. He was his usual unerring self from the free-throw line, notching six from seven, en-route to a game high 18-points on 35% shooting from the field. Eli Lenihan made good use of possession to facilitate his shooters and add seven assists to his stat line.

Ireland will come away with plenty of learnings from this game to put into practice against Bulgaria on Wednesday. Key to that will be improving their rebounding as a team. Latvia outmuscled them on the glass and picked up 17 more boards in the process, leading to a lot of second chance points. It’s still all to play for in this competition for Ireland, another big win tomorrow afternoon and a pathway towards further success becomes a lot clearer.