CHIÈVRES, Belgium -- From Nov. 27 to Dec. 2, eight teams are competing to win the 52nd Annual SHAPE International Basketball Tournament. This year, teams are from Latvia, Great Britain, United States, France, Belgium, Lithuania, Canada and SHAPE.
The U.S. Armed Forces Men's Basketball team, also known as the Team USA and won the tournament last year, already won their first two games.
Throughout poll play, the team got a big win against the Canadian team (92-45) on Monday afternoon. On Wednesday, the team won again. This time it was against the Great Britain team.
Another great win for the team, coached by Army Capt. Carl Little, who led 11-66 at half and won the game (27-115).
"This is a great victory. We have been training hard the last three weeks for this tournament," said Army Staff Sgt. Ernest Hassel, a player in the U.S. team. "Our chance is pretty high right now [of winning the tournament]."
The beginning of the competition was not so easy for the SHAPE team. For the first game, the SHAPE began with a difficult win against the Belgian team (60-61). Then SHAPE lost against French team. France led 13-23 after the first quarter and 24-45 at the half. France continued to offer a beautiful show in the third quarter (34-81) and won the game easily (47-112).
"The French team was just strong. I think they had 12 players, they have been playing together for a while and they had some pro players as well from the national team. I think we played well the first half and then the second half is just we didn't have enough," said Erick Ocasio, the SHAPE team coach, after the game.
"The expectation is to be better every year. Last year, we had a little bit better team, and this year we have a better team. Now that we have a program going, we'll see where we end up."
The last pool games were scheduled Thursday before the following of the competition Friday and the big final Saturday night at 8 p.m. For the updated schedule, visit www.shape2day.com.
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