Achara & Williams on British Rosters

PITTSBURGH – Incoming Kentucky transfer Morakinyo Williams (Solihull, England) and former Duke Kieron Achara (Stirling, Scotland) will both be representing Duquesne University on British Basketball rosters this summer.

Morakinyo Williams, a 6-11 center who announced his transfer to DU last week, was named to the 15-man U20 squad which will compete in the European Division B Championships August 1-10 in Targu Mures, Romania. Achara, who finished his career ranked 19th on Duquesne’s all-time scoring list with 1,240 career points, was one of 27 players named to the National Team preliminary roster.

“With strength and depth in the squad, this looks to be a promising summer with plenty of opportunity for players to place themselves in a position of involvement for future Great Britain programmes building towards 2012,” said U20 head coach Tim Lewis of the roster that was announced June 12.

Kieron Achara joins NBA stars Luol Deng and Ben Gordon, former Atlantic 10 players Pops Mensah-Bonsu (George Washington) and Dzaflo Larkai (La Salle) and current A-10 player Ben Eaves (Rhode Island) among those who hope to impress coach Chris Finch at the London selection camp in August.

The National Team will be attempting to qualify for the European Championships in 2009-10 and eventually the 2012 London Olympic Games.

“It is by far the strongest list of names put out in the history of any of the home countries or Great Britain, we’re really fortunate to have such a quality group,” said Finch who will assemble and assess his squad at their training camp in August at Brunel University, before making his final selection.

The National Team’s first EuroBasket Division A game is vs. Israel in Israel on Sept. 3.

For additional information, visit the British Basketball website at www.basketballgb.com.

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Great Britain Men’s U20 Roster
(announced June 12)

Fahro Alihodzic             St. Francis De Sales
Ben Allison                 Davidson College
Devan Bailey                Holy Cross University
Darryle Bethune             Hackney
Matthew Bryan-Amaning       Washington University
Sam Fernley                 St. Francis
Alhaii Allie Fullah         Hackney
Ashley Hamilton             Loyola Marymount University
Orlan Jackman               Manchester
Ben Mockford                Oak Hill Academy
Mike Ochereobia             Hackney
Ben Russell                 Aguimes
Colin Sing                  Laurenburg Academy
Menelik Watson              Aguimes
Morakinyo “Mike” Williams   Duquense University

Team Great Britain Invitees
(announced June 5)

Robert Archibald      Azovmash
Kieron Achara         Duquesne University
Andy Betts            Cajasol
Eric Boateng          Arizona State University
Flinder Boyd          Rosalia
Dan Clark             Leche Rio
Luol Deng             Chicago Bulls
Ben Eaves             University of Rhode Island
Germayne Forbes       Boulazac
Joel Freeland         Gran Canaria
Nick George           Alicante
Ben Gordon            Chicago Bulls
Paul Guede            Tallahassee Comm. College
Matt Guymon           Oklahoma City University
Steve Hansell         Apoel
Jarrett Hart          Keravnos
Dzaflo Larkai         Bellarmine
Mike Lenzly           Mons Hainaut
Steve Leven           Newcastle Eagles
Pops Mensah-Bonsu     Benetton
Richard Midgley       Everton Tigers
Nate Reinking         Mons Hainaut
Ryan Richards         Gran Canaria
Justin Robinson       Rider University
Andrew Sullivan       Mons Hainaut
Shane Walker          University of Maryland
Yorick Williams       Marshall MK Lions