Great Britain came within half a second of pulling off the biggest upset in their history last night before losing their opening qualifying game for the 2009 European Championship finals 102-92 to Israel in overtime.

Luol Deng, the Chicago Bulls star, was magnificent and showed why the British federation paid £230,000 to gain his insurance clearance this week.He scored 30 points after only two practices with the team, but fouled out in the extra period along with Pops Mensah-Bonsu, the former NBA forward, and the veteran Nate Reinking.

Chris Finch, the Britain coach, conceded that the referees had played an important part in the outcome. “A lot of calls went against us down the stretch, maybe they were right, maybe they were wrong,” he said. “But they certainly didn't feel right from where I was. We had our three best players on the bench at the end of the game.”

Reinking had been involved in the agonising finale in normal time, when he went to the free-throw line with Britain leading 84-83 and only 2.5sec to play. But he made just one free throw, then was judged to have fouled Meir Tapiro with half a second on the clock. The Israeli made his two free shots count to level the score 85-85 and force overtime.

That foul call appeared the most contentious of a number of questionable decisions at crucial junctures. Zvi Sherf, the Israel coach, said: “There was contact by Reinking. Some referees will make that call, some referees will not make that call.”

In overtime, Deng scored five points to give Britain a 90-89 lead and silence the noisy crowd of 6,000 at the Nokia Arena, but he fouled out soon after and with him went British hopes.

Joel Freeland, the 21-year-old centre who was drafted by the Portland Trail Blazers, of the NBA, two years ago, gave Deng superb support with 14 points and nine rebounds, while Israel were led by Tapiro, who scored 27 points.

“Britain did not surprise me,” Sherf said. “I expected them to be this good, I was perhaps the only one. I saw discs of a lot of their games and once Deng joined the team, they became a very different and stronger team.”

The group winners automatically advance to the finals next year, along with the three best runners-up from four groups, and Britain will return home to face the Czech Republic, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Israel in an eight-day period, starting on Saturday.

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