Titans of Galway basketball star for Ireland U-20s in Euro finals
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Gbinigie brothers and team-mate Igbokwe part of Irish side that records highest-ever finish at Men’s U-20 Eurobasket finals
Three Titans of Galway basketball were part of the Irish U-20 Men's squad that made history in the past week with a highest-ever finish at the FIBA Youth EuroBasket in Slovakia, securing a fifth-place finish in the Division B tournament.
Fortune Igbokwe, and brothers Declan and Nathan Gbingie, of the city-based Titans Basketball Club were part of the 12-man Irish squad which won four of its five group games, and then bounced back from a quarter-final loss to win its next two classification games to finish fifth in the 21-team tournament.
Igbokwe and Declan Gbinigie, the elder of the two brothers, were on the Irish starting five for all seven games, and scored in all seven; while Nathan, who was playing up a level, having just turned 18 in March, saw court time in three of the games.
The Irish side opened their account with a 69-56 win over Macedonia, with Igbokwe hitting 9pts and the elder Gbinigie landing 4. That was followed by their only group loss, a 90-58 defeat to a Swedish side that went on to top the group, and finished the tournament with the bronze medal. Igbokwe hit 7 points with the elder Gbinigie finishing with six, as his younger brother made his tournament debut off the bench.
Ireland secured the runners-up spot in Group A, and a place in the quarter-finals, with wins over Azerbaijan (54-47, with 13 points for Igbokwe and six for Gbinigie) and Slovakia (86-49, 8 points for both Igbokwe and Declan Gbinigie, with Nathan coming off the bench and hitting three points).
That set up a quarter-final against Ukraine, where the eastern Europe outfit won a thriller 72-62 on their way to wining gold. Igbokwe finished the game with 14 points, with his fellow Titan starter hitting eight, as Ireland dropped into the 5th to 8thplace classification games.
They won both, defeating Hungary 88-79 (Igbokwe 9, Gbinigie 18) and then toppling Luxembourg 85-69 (Igbokwe 10, Gbinigie 15) in a game in which the younger Gbinigie made his third appearance of the tournament.