Luol Deng and Thabo Sefolosha, close friends and neighbors as well as teammates, squared off on opposite teams in the first leg of a European Championships B Division promotion game in front of 500 spectators in the northern English steel town of Sheffield.

It was hard to imagine a setting farther removed from the United Center -- or even the Eurobasket tournament currently going on in Spain -- as Deng's Great Britain and Sefolosha's Switzerland met in an inner-city "leisure centre".

For the record, Deng took the honors, finishing with 31 points, 12 boards, 4 assists and 3 steals. Sefolosha ended the game with 21 points, 9 boards and 5 fouls, fouling out of the contest.

More importantly, in a tie that will be decided by aggregate score over the two games or "legs," Great Britain won by a 74-41 score line.

"This isn't over, you can't say that," Deng said. "But obviously we want to finish off a great summer in style so we need to concentrate on the job in hand.