Britain came close to beating Turkey on Saturday evening, but eventually finished fourth overall after Israel beat the home side 79-69 on the final day of the tournament.

 

Although Britain have had to cope with a number of injuries and absentees, the team's coach Chris Finch remained confident his side are heading in the right direction.

 

He can look forward to the return of Rob Archibald, Andrew Sullivan and Flinder Boyd, all from injury, plus Pops Mensah-Bonsu and Andy Betts before the European Championships start in Poland next month.

 

He said: "I thought we made a big step up from Friday night [when Britain were beaten 76-50 by Poland].

 

"We get the chance to assess the ability of work now by the team and individuals.

 

"I thought the front court was very good all tournament, they did a good job of executing stuff.

 

"I liked our guard combination but we have to find a way to find them some shots.

 

"What encouraged me most was the way we came back against Turkey and corrected a lot of correctable things.

 

"Kieron [Achara] did well in his two games and I also thought Randall [Hanke] did well.

 

"We are going to get experience and composure back, plus some oncourt leadership and some invaluable stuff.

 

"Results at this stage aren't the key thing.

 

"We want them [results] to build confidence but confidence isn't an issue for us."

  

Britain's Joel Freeland (pictured) hit a double-double of 14 points and 16 rebounds against Israel and enjoyed a lot of court time in front of the home crowd.

 

He said: "Coach has given me a good role to play in the team and I'm trying to take it in my stride.

 

"It's been hard for me, I've not been playing this many minutes in games and I'm trying to take them and use them the best way I can.

 

"I've really enjoyed myself in this tournament but feel like, especially in this game today, that we could have got a much better result.

 

"It's not easy coming in and losing three games at home but it's a learning curve and we have to look at the mistakes we made. We have a few more weeks till Poland to get ready."

 

Turkey were inspired by Ersan Ilyasova, who topscored with 23 points to earn the MVP award, and Toronto Raptor Hedo Turkoglu (pictured), who added 11.

 

Engin Atsur of Turkey said: "It was fun to play in this tournament.

 

"There was a good atmosphere and great games and I thought the spectators were into it.

 

"For us we were happy to see our fans in England.

 

"It is good to see basketball in Britain is getting much bigger and this was a nice tournament.

 

"There was a great level of competition, I mean we struggled everyday, but of course we are in the situation where we are having a lot of practices and are not yet in the best shape but the level was high and it was a great competition before the start of the European Championships."

 

Britain now travel to Seville for another four nation tournament against Lithuania as well as Slovenia and world champions Spain; two of their European Championships group opponents.

 

Freeland said: "Spain will be huge.

 

"They are a great team but like every team we should be ready to step up against them.

 

"It will be a hard test but everyone will be up for the challenge."