Britain were beaten 97-62 to Lithuania at a four-nation tournament in Seville but FInch was upbeat after the match against last year's Olympic semi-finalists.

 

 

Andy Betts has made an instant impact upon his return to the British side, this time leading the points with 17, while Joel Freeland and Nick George were the only other Britons hitting double figures with 13 and 10 points respectively.

 

While Britain were crushed 10-28 in the opening quarter they responded with a strong second period, toppling the Lithuanians 24-18 to give their preparations for next year's European Championships in Poland a boost.

 

Finch said: "The games have been exactly as we thought, extremely difficult, but that's good for us. We expected this tournament to be hard and we needed it to be hard.

 

"The game was obviously a difficult one, they were a hard team to pressure.

 

"We conceded too many turnovers and you can't turnover so often against a team like that; they did a good job making plays from them.

 

"Having said that the second quarter was one of the best quarters we've played yet, but in the third we didn't respond with another strong one.

 

"Andy played well.

 

"He's experienced, big and strong and has a lot of hustle.

 

"Now it's just about getting those guys to better level of fitness."

 

Britain play their final test game tomorrowagainst fellow EuroBasket group opponents Slovenia, who lost 89-71 to Spain tonight.

 

Finch said: "We expect Slovenia to be big and strong.

 

"It will be an interesting game as neither team wants to do too much or show too much before Poland.

 

"We will use it as an opportunity to look at different combinations of guys, to see who can do what.

 

"Nick George has played well for us so far and Kieron [Achara] has really come on for us.

 

"The guards, Nate [Reinking] and Mike [Lenzly] have been playing a lot of minutes and as a result I think it's taking its toll.

 

"But after Seville we have a chance to regroup and put all that we've learnt into play."