MONS, Belgium — SHAPE’s International Basketball Tournament tips off Monday with the U.S. Armed Forces team looking to improve on last year’s third-place finish.
The tournament, now in its 47th year, will have military teams from Lithuania, the defending champs, Belgium, France, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands and the U.K. in addition to the U.S. Last year’s second-place finishers, Greece, will not be sending a team.
The U.S. team is made up of players from throughout the Army, Air Force, Navy and Coast Guard. Team members will include Kenneth Brewer, Richard Cleveland and Marcus Nelson, all Army second lieutenants who played their college ball at West Point, and Air Force second lieutenants Andrew Henke and Matt Holland, both of whom played for the Air Force Academy.
The tournament will consist of two pools of four teams, with the Americans competing against Italy, Latvia and the U.K. in Pool B. The Americans’ first game is Tuesday afternoon against Italy. They play the U.K. on Wednesday, and what is expected to their toughest group opponent, Latvia, on Friday.
The runner-ups from each group will play Saturday evening for third place before the group winners battle it out for the title. All games are in SHAPE’s main gym.
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