Basketball: Fraser back with a bang as GB pip Belgium in Sofia

Scottish star Ali Fraser came back from an ankle injury to score 37 points and help Great Britain to a thrilling 101-100 overtime win over 
Belgium in the Euro B Under-20 Championship final classification games in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Fraser, on a basketball scholarship at the University of Maine, added nine rebounds and four assists for the GB side who led 46-41 at half-time and 67-59 after the third quarter before being pegged back to 97-97 at the end of normal time. But GB found Poland too strong in their final game yesterday, losing 93-63 to finish sixth overall.

Fraser again top-scored with 14 points, with Edinburgh Kings guard Lee Reilly, another ankle injury victim, getting on court for a token two minutes. Meanwhile, Scotland beat Gibraltar 62-29 to take the bronze medals in the European C Championship for Under-16 women in Gibraltar yesterday, with Iceland beating Cyprus for gold. It was a much better performance from the Scots, who had only beaten their hosts by six points in their group game.

Coach Luis Romero said: “They only really played two bad quarters in the whole tournament.”

One of these was in the semi-final against Cyprus on Saturday when they lost the third quarter 22-2 and eventually lost 62-39.

Results: European Under-16 Women’s C Championship (Gibraltar): Group Stage: Scotland 57 Andorra 34, Scotland 53 Malta 49, Scotland 51 Gibraltar 45. Semi-finals: Scotland 39 Cyprus 62, Iceland 101 Gibraltar 20: play-off for 3rd: Scotland 62 Gibraltar 29; Final: Iceland 57 Cyprus 44.