U20 Belgian Lions will play for Bronze after rough loss against Slovenia

After their solid win against Czechia in the Quarter-Finals, our young Belgian Lions weren’t able to continue their strong play in the Semi-Finals against Slovenia and lost it 79-91.

Despite the respectable final score, Belgium was outclassed throughout the entire game but especially in the first half in which Slovenia seemed to score at will with some excellent shooting from behind the arc. Belgium on the other hand didn’t seem to be able to buy a bucket and so the score quickly evolved to 18-35 after the first quarter. Things weren’t going any better in the second quarter as Slovenia’s high octane offense and their strong presence on the boards helped them to the 36-60 score at the half.

To the credit of our youngsters, they never hung their heads and continued to play. Slowly but surely things started to look up and Belgium was able to slightly chip away at the large deficit to the 54-75 score headed into the final quarter. In that final quarter Slovenia’s offense slacked off entirely and their lead slowly dwindled as Belgium managed to get as close as 9 points (73-82) with just under two minutes left to play. But that’s as far as it got for them as Slovenia held them off from the FT-line and eventually got the 79-91 win and got themselves a spot in the finals, while Belgium will have to battle for third place.

After an off-day against Czechia Ayuba Bryant regained his game and finished as Belgium’s top performer today with his 20 pts (on 64% FG shooting) & 4 rebs. Nathan Missia-Dio chipped in with 17 pts & 7 rebs. Kobe Grymonprez also finished in double-figures with 16 pts before he fouled out the game.

Tomorrow’s game for third place will be played at 6pm and will see Belgium face the loser of the match-up between Greece and France.