U18 Belgian Lions finish their European Championship in 7th place.

After their promotion to the A-Division last summer, our U18 Belgian Lions came to this year’s European Championship with as main goal to maintain in Division A.

After a strong group phase in which they defeated Croatia and Turkey – before losing to a very strong Germany – they moved to the Group of 16 in which they defeated Greece in a close battle to qualify for the Quarter-Finals. Already it was clear that our youngsters more than deserved their spot in the A-Division this summer. However, it also became clear in the Quarter-Finals that they’re still some way removed from the top teams as they went down to Serbia in those Quarter-Finals and also lost to France in their first classification game for 5th place.

Today they then faced Sweden to establish their final spot in the overall ranking. After a close game in which Sweden seemed to have the upper-hand most of the way, it was eventually an excellent Corentin Efono (26 pts) who helped our youngsters over the hump to get away with the 81-84 victory to secure their 7th spot in the standings. Mission more than accomplished for our boys who clearly proved they belonged.

The Belgian backcourt with Corentin Efono and Feie Tallir acted at a very high level throughout the tournament and were the difference makers on several occasions. Efono finished the tournament with averages of 14.4 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 4.3 apg & 2.0 spg, while Tallir added 8.0 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 5.3 apg & 1.6 spg. Jayden Hodge also continued to show his potential – although his shooting efficiency (21.7% on threes and 47.4% on the FT-line) still needs a lot of work – and led our youngsters in scoring with his 15.9 ppg. He was also our main rebounder with 6.9 rpg and added 3.7 apg, 1.7 spg & 0.9 bpg, showing off his overall impact on the game. Big man Oskar Giltay also shined, providing our youngsters with a strong interior presence as he finished as the tournament’s leading shot blocker with his 3.1 bpg, while also adding 10.0 ppg & 6.4 rpg. Letto Van Drom (8.4 ppg, 40.7% on his threes & 4.1 rpg), Jarne Elouna Eyenga (6.4 ppg & 3.9 rpg) and Victor Vanderstraeten (6.5 ppg & 2.8 rpg) also played a very solid tournament and gave our team a nice boost coming off the bench.

Congratulations guys!