More than fifteen minutes before the last buzzer, all World Cup hopes for the Belgians were gone. In order to still grab a World Cup ticket, the Belgian Lions first had to keep their fingers crossed for a stunt by Great Britain against Serbia, but that miracle did not happen. Serbia qualified with a 101-83 win.
Not that the Belgian Lions had a scapegoat with that, because they only took the lead in the opening minute. For the rest it was a whole game of chasing.
A lesser start of the young Belgian Lions – without Obasohan, Mwema, Bako, Gilet, Vanwijn… – quickly broke them. The Turks punished three fast breaks mercilessly.
Manu Lecomte was the only compatriot in double digits with 14 points. With only a finishing percentage of 32.3 percent, a remonte was not an option. A difficult last quarter made it a painful 54-82 for the Belgians.
In the pre-Olympic qualifying tournament in August, the young Lions, who received their chance today from national coach Dario Gjergja, will have another opportunity to gain experience.
“This was not the strongest Turkey, but their second team is almost as strong,” said Vrenz Bleijenbergh.
“We have a young group and after Friday’s good match in Great Britain, this is a bit of a blow.”
“We weren’t aggressive like Friday, maybe some players were a bit nervous.”
“We have to learn from this and we still have a lot of time. It will be fine.”
