Three current and former members of the Leopards squad played a big part in Great Britain under-20s eighth placed finish in the European Championships in Poland.

The Big Cats coach, Jon Burnell, acted as assistant coach for the side, while forwards Joe Ikhinmwin and Dan Clark both posted impressive statistics.

Britain lost their opening game against Finland, but recovered to win 77-68 against Belgium and 79-62 against Romania to qualify for the quarter-final group stage.

With Finland joining GB in the last eight, the result of the game between the sides was carried forward to the second stage leaving Burnell’s team with an uphill struggle. Ultimately it proved irrelevant, and they lost their first game 79-73 against Ukraine to end their semi-final chances.

With the Slovak Republic also eliminated from the competition, the final group game between the two as something of an anti-climax, with the eastern Europeans winning 84-69. Britain then faced two games in the 5-8th placed play-offs, and they were unsuccessful in both, losing 71-64 against hosts Poland before suffering a second loss against Slovakia, 75-68.

18-year-old Clark came through the Ware junior programme, making his first team debut at the age of 13, and currently plays for top Spanish club Estudiantes. The 6’ 11” forward captained the side and proved to be one of the stars of the tournament, finishing fourth in the rebounding charts with an average of 10.6 boards per game. He also came sixth in shot blocking with 1.4 per game and ninth in scoring with an average of 16.9. He also posted an impressive 1.9 assists per game.

Ikhinmwin, who was a regular in the Big Cats’ first team last season, did not manage to reach the heights of Clark, but still played a significant role as Britain surpassed all expectations to finish eighth. The 19-year-old averaged 5.3 points per game, 2.2 rebounds 1.2 steals. Although he will make a farewell appearance for Leopards when they play San Jose at Wodson Park on August 18, he will then move to Seminole State College in Oklahoma where he will spend a maximum of two years before hopefully progressing to an NCAA Division college.

Clark and Ikhinmwin both had their best game of the tournament against Belgium as Clark finished with 30 points,15 rebounds, three assists and three blocks while Ikhinmwin scored 12 points.

Coach Burnell enjoyed the tournament, and was pleased to have the chance to coach again: “The skill level of Dan was fantastic for such a big player, and it’s been a pleasure to work with him. Joe didn’t have as good a tournament as he could have done, but he was one of the most athletic players there.”

Although Britain’s initial aim to finish in the top ten, Burnell did admit that he was disappointed that his side ended up in eighth spot: “We think we should have finished between fifth and seventh, and if Belgium had qualified from our group rather than Finland, we’d have had a good chance of getting to the semi-finals as we’d have carried our win against them forward.

“We missed so many free throws, and then went on to lose games by five or six points. We’ve got seven players still eligible for next season, and had a shot at coming fifth – so it’s something to build on. We were missing several of our better players, which is always frustrating.

“It’s a good thing to do, and I’d like another shot at it. It was certainly an experience. We had a lot of dramas, up to and including the way home where we were delayed three hours at the airport due to a bomb scare, with armed police blowing up a motorcycle.”