JOE Hart has spoken of his joy at captaining Great Britain’s under 20 basketball team to three successive victories at the start of the European Championships in Romania.

The GB youngsters have beaten Slovak Republic, Luxembourg and hosts Romania in their opening three matches of the Division B event.

And that has delighted Hart, a former St Thomas More School pupil.

“Being named captain is an incredible honour for me,” said Hart, who has scored 39 points in the tournament so far.

“I had the privilege of being the under-16 England captain when we came third, but to be named as the captain of this under 20 team is unreal and it’s been good to get off to such a good start.”

Britain saw off the Slovak Republic 75-62 in their first game before beating Luxembourg 106-92 and Romania 99-43.

But 20-year-old Hart insists the squad, which also includes Rayleigh’s Joe Lockwood, are not getting carried away by the trio of successful score-lines.

“It’s been a good first three games for the team but we understand that while these games have been important, we still haven’t achieved anything yet,” he said.

“We’ve come in and taken care of business against some talented teams but we have to keep playing hard and keep together if we are to advance further.”

Britain’s next test will come later today against a strong Poland side who have also won all three of their opening matches.

And the Southend born Hart is therefore expecting a difficult encounter.

“Poland are an incredibly good team and there is a lot of hype around them,” said Hart.

“But I think that we are also a very good team and can compete with anyone as long as we play GB basketball.

“It should definitely be a good game for sure.”

Britain will complete the group stage of the competition against Belgium tomorrow.