No medal for our U20 Lions as they fall to Greece.

Talking about a déjà-vu! Just like last year our U20 Belgian Lions had to face Greece for the final podium spot at the European Championship, and exactly like last year the game ended up in a thriller with eventually Greece as the winner. Last year Greece needed an overtime to put Belgium away (68-64). This year they managed to do it in the regular playing time (albeit only just) as they put Belgium away with the 68-70 score.

Things got off to a strong start for Belgium as Ayuba Bryant continued on where he had left off in the previous game and single-handedly brought Belgium up to 8-4 in the opening minutes of the game. Greece then started to find some rhythm and went up and over Belgium to end the opening quarter with the 15-21 score. In that second quarter Bryant remained hot and when Noah Meeusen drained a three it was again Belgium taking control. A control they would maintain for a maximum lead of 11 points before Greece cut it down to 9 at the half (40-31).

Very similar flow in the third quarter with Belgium seemingly in full control, despite their lead never surpassing 9 points and eventually ending up with 4 points to head into that final quarter (50-46). As expected Greece came out in that final quarter with more intensity and a bigger sense of urgency, while Belgium remained in their cool, calm and collected flow. Perhaps too cool, calm and collected since their lead slowly melted away as Konstantinidis got red hot and gave his team their first lead since the 1st quarter with 6 minutes left to play (56-57). The Belgian trio of Meeusen, Missia-Dio and Bryant and blue-collar worker extra-ordinaire Alexander Raedschelders responded as the game now went back-and-forth to a 65-65 score with 1 minute left. And then there was Konstantinidis again: with another three and 2/4 FT’s he gave Greece the 3 point lead with time running out for Belgium. Glenn Temmerman found himself on the line with a 67-70 score and less than a second left to play. He scored the first and deliberately missed the second to give our big men one final chance at a game-winning tip-in, but… to no avail. And gone was their shot at a first ever medal. Final score: 68-70.

Despite the loss and the missed opportunity for a medal, it should be said that 4th place is actually a much better result than most people would’ve expected (me included) and so our guys can definitely look back on this tournament with their heads held high. And no doubt, some of our youngsters’ names will now be known throughout Europe.

In the foreground of which will be Nathan Missia-Dio, who – despite his clear weak points such as team-play and shot selection – has graced many a highlight reel and has shown his individual talent with abandon. He finishes the tournament with averages of 15.4 ppg, 10.6 rpg (leads the tournament), 1.7 apg, 1.7 spg & 1.1 bpg. Second name to do the rounds will be our floor-general Noah Meeusen. Despite having some ups-and-downs he remained very solid throughout and averaged 10.3 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 6.3 apg (top 5 of the tournament) & 1.6 spg. And to round out this big three is Ayuba Bryant. Not the most flashiest, not the most athletic but very solid and efficient all around with very few weak points. He added 13.3 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 1.0 apg & 1.0 spg, shooting an excellent 46.2% from behind the arc.

Find out all stats from our Belgian players here.

Congratulations to the coaching staff and all the players for a strong tournament!