Buceta positive despite GB loss

The pool favourites eventually ran out 78-64 winners, but had been pegged back to within five points in the final quarter as Great Britain pushed them hard.

And while the result wasn’t what Buceta had been after, he felt the team had shown a lot of promise ahead of their next clash with Italy.

"We never gave up and we pushed them hard and I don't think the final result tells the story as we were right in the game until late," said Buceta.

"We played a very high tempo and we got tired and you have to give credit to them because they rebound the ball so well and they got too many offensive boards for us - but that is an issue for most teams that play them.

"I am so proud of my players because they did such a great job and this game will fill us with confidence, because we saw what is possible when we work like this as a team and show this level of spirit and courage.

"It was important that we had a strong start and we enjoyed a great first quarter and Montenegro reacted - I guess they did not expect us to play like that - especially in offence.

"Considering we have a new system in offence and we are playing differently, I was so happy to see how we implemented things.

"But, not as happy as I was to see the fight in the second half when we came back.

"Now we move on to Italy and I think each game is different and we still need to improve," added Buceta.

"It will be a difficult game of course, but what is important is that we showed we can do it and we have to play really hard against them - as we did against Montenegro tonight."

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