Great Britain's senior men became the first domestic national team to reach basketball's European Championship finals in 28 years when they beat the Czech Republic in Pardubice.

NBA star Luol Deng scored 21 points and Nate Reinking had 20 as the British team overcame a three-point Czech advantage in the closing two minutes to win.

Jiri Welsch had 28 points for the Czechs, who will now struggle to be one of the seven teams to qualify for the finals in Poland next year.

The Czechs came out shooting, with threes from Jiri Welsch and Jiri Hubalek giving the hosts an early 10-6 lead before GB hit eight straight to force a time-out from Czech coach Michael Jezdik.

A rash of turnovers before the end of the first quarter prevented GB taking advantage of their momentum and they led only 21-20 after the first 10 minutes.

Early foul trouble prevented them getting any momentum in the second quarter, when the teams combined for just 15 points in the first seven minutes of the quarter, a near-stalemate which had been a feature of the teams' stale encounter at the O2 Arena just 11 days earlier.

Britain went in ahead 36-34 largely because of the talents of Luol Deng, who hit eight of the team's nine points in the remainder of the first half, including two three-pointers.

In the third quarter, Britain began to establish a cushion with the aid of eight points from Nate Reinking, all of them mid-range shots off the drive, in a 10-1 run which gave them a 47-39 lead.

That lead was still only six points, 53-47, at the end of the third quarter, however. It had slipped to just two within a minute of the final quarter getting under way as Welsch and then Radek Necas scored for the home team.

The Czechs levelled the game at 57-57 with a basket on the break from Lukas Kotas, then led through a Welsch three with 3:39 remaining.

Reinking immediately replied, only for Tomas Satoransky to splash another three with 2:35 left to play.

Pops Mensah-Bonsu hit a pair of free throws and then blocked a Welsch drive to the basket, but 63-62 remained the score as the last minute began. With 43 seconds remaining, Welsch was adjudged to have kicked out at Deng as the Chicago Bulls player defended a shot.

Clearly in pain, Deng hit both shots and then, at the other end, fouled Kotas, who missed both free throws with 22 seconds left.

Richard Midgley hit one of his two frees as the other end with nine seconds on the clock, and the stage was set for a dramatic last play.

Welsch's drive rimmed out and Ondrej Starosta's tip also failed to go in. Fouled on the rebound, Mensah-Bonsu hit both free throws with 1.5 seconds showing on the clock to seal the victory and send Great Britain to Poland next year.

(re-opens) British head coach Chris Finch claimed after the match that his team's progression was just reward for a fine collective effort on and off the court.

"This is a culmination of a lot of work by a lot of people over the last three summers and a lot of commitment and sacrifice, and it's always nice that you can be rewarded for that," he said.

"It shows what a dedicated group of individuals, both on and off the floor, can do with the right time and resources behind something.

"We always wanted to test ourselves against the best and now we can do that which is an exciting possibility.

"I'm not sure what it means right now because it's a huge step for us and I'm proud of it."

The British team was only reformed two-and-a-half years ago and gained promotion to Division A of EuroBasket last summer, and a confident Deng set his sights on even greater glory at the European finals.

"Since I was young I always wanted to win a championship and now we have a chance what with playing next year," Deng said.

"This is what it's all about, as a child you dream about it and now it's come true.

"It feels so good. Three years ago we weren't anywhere, nobody knew about us, so to win the group even though no-one gave us a chance, and going through, is a great feeling."