Basketball: Nemeth delight as England find form

There were tears and a triumph – at last – for England coach Laszlo Nemeth after his players ended their troubled two-year European Championship campaign with a 92-84 victory over Portugal in their last semi-final round fixture at Birmingham's Aston Events Centre on Saturday.

"In the dressing room I thanked them for all their hard work and support," Nemeth said. "Then suddenly there was champagne and they presented me with a gold chain. It was emotional and I was deeply touched. There were tears in my eyes."

But the players' presentation was not an assumption that this had been the last game in the nine-year reign of Nemeth, whose contract expires in July and who has been at odds with the sport's governing body, England Basketball, for the past year.

EB failed to organise visas for seven players who had to miss last week's 94-42 defeat in Russia and England faced Portugal knowing a seventh consecutive defeat would leave them bottom of the group.

"The players were so keyed up, so determined to show they are not the trash of Europe," Nemeth said. "But we are not used to being 17 points up and then they got nervous."

England ripped into a 10-0 lead and were 52-35 up at half-time as a trio of former Birmingham Bullets quickly found their feet on their old home court. Tony Dorsey, now with Ostende, had 19 by half-time, and Yorick Williams of Essex Leopards soon found three-point range.

But it was Steve Hansell, the local-born guard who now plays for Larissa in Greece, who proved the key to victory, making two successive three-point plays plus two free throws to give England an 83-74 lead, then combining with the centre Andy Betts for the 7-0 run which closed the victory.

England (points scored): Williams (18), Baker (4), Dorsey (23), Hansell (18), Martin (4), Pearson (8), Herriman (4), Betts (13), Joseph (0), Windle (0).