England defeat Luxembourg 91-78 in Calais

England senior men's coach Paul James was delighted as his new-look team started the Calais/Dunkerque tournament with a 91-78 victory against Luxembourg on Tuesday evening.

Captain James Jones had 16 points for England as they led from tip to buzzer and never looked back after a 30-18 first period.

"It was a little bit like starting all over again having to bring in four new players to the team, but they adapted well, picked up the plays well and did some really positive things during the game," said James.

"James Jones was once again the outstanding player with good support from Mike Williams and debutant Ross Allsop both putting in good performances.

"It was good to get back to winning ways, but just as importantly we are getting a chance to look at English talent and assess their international potential for the future. The games coming up will be a bigger test for this group of players."

Williams finished with 13 points and both Ben Eaves and Allsop each hit 12 in a balanced scoring effort as England improved their record to 3-2 for their summer season.

After that blistering start, England maintained a 12 point lead at each of the next two breaks, going in at half-time with a 47-36 advantage and reaching the final break with a 69-57 lead.

With four minutes to go England were ahead by 20, and although Luxembourg closed the gap in the closing stages, James' team wrapped up a comfortable victory.

S Picard (17) and T Schumachert (15) led the Luxembourg scoring, with Koster and Rajinak each adding ten.

Having sampled Dunkerque, England now return to Calais to face Ivory Coast tonight before facing Tunisia at the same venue on Thursday. They wrap up the competition on Friday when they play Belgium's under-23 team, again in Calais.

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