Britain had led 85-83 with three seconds of normal time remaining at the Nokia Arena before a capacity crowd of 6,000 but a Nate Reinking foul allowed Israel to take the game to overtime with two free throws.

 

The Chicago Bulls star Deng led all scorers with 30 for Britain with Joel Freeland adding 14 as they nearly pulled off a shock against the team ranked 25th in the world.

 

Britain have so little pedigree internationally that they currently do not have any points, unlike countries such as Liberia, Madagascar and Saudi Arabai, and the world governing body FIBA do not list them among the 74 countries who they have ranked.

 

Britain's chances of a major upset effectively disappeared when Deng, along with Reinking and Pops Mensah-Bonsu, another former NBA star, was fouled out by the referee in overtime, a decision both coaches admitted was a crucial factor in Britain's defeat.

 

Britain's Chris Finch said: "A lot of calls went against us down the stretch, maybe they were right, maybe they were wrong.

 

"But they certainly didn't feel right from where I was.

 

"We had our three best players on the bench at the end of the game.”

 

Finch's Israeli counterpart Zvi Sherf said: "Luck was often against me [in the past].

 

"This time it worked to my advantage."

 

Sherf, though, saw enough to believe that Britain are a country on the march when it comes to basketball.

 

He said: "We played against a good team and a superstar.

 

"It was hard stopping them.

 

"Their players are athletic and aggressive.

 

"It was a big drama."

 

Britain's squad return to London today and will take on the Czech Republic at the O2 Arena on Saturday in a game they will need to win if they are to reach next year's European finals in Poland.