The Malta Basketball national team may not have won gold in this year’s FIBA Small Countries Games, but head coach Alan Walls believes he could not have asked for a better squad after a second-place finish on Sunday.
The team lost 68-84 to free-scoring Armenia in the final, falling prey to Valencia Basket’s new signing Chris Jones, who put up 41 points and scored eight out of 11 three-pointers attempted throughout the game. Speaking to the Times of Malta, coach Walls admitted it was the team with more firepower that won the title.
“(Andre) Spight and Jones are phenomenal players who play at a very high level in Europe and they were just too much,” Walls said.
“Before the final, Jones’ best game was 21 points and he almost doubled it with 41 and he was literally unstoppable.
“We jumped out to an early lead like usual and threw the first punches for a ten-point lead. Our guys gave everything they had and there were no regrets. Physically they were exhausted, and we just didn’t have the same firepower offensively."