By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Retin Obasohan scored 25 points, Emmanouel Lecomte added 20, and led Belgium to the 89-80 win over Bulgaria and to the Round of 16.
The guard duo of Belgium weathered the storm against furious Sasha Vezenkov who had one more stellar game with 26 points and 13 rebounds.
“We understood it was do or die for us and we answered the call”, said Obasohan, “and I am happy going to the next round”.
Dee Bost added 18 points for Bulgaria but had just 3/12 threes. On the contrary, Lecomte did his damage by shooting 9/12 FG.
Per Bulgaria’s coach Rosen Barchovski, there was a simple answer for that: “You have seen a fresh team, against a very tired team. We played a very hard game yesterday and arrived at the hotel at midnight. On the contrary, Belgium decided “not to play” against Turkey, so they were smart. This is the program, but also it’s an important detail. Congratulations to Belgium, they stopped our three-pointer and also played smart, always pushing the tempo”.
Bost agreed: “It’s not an excuse but we didn’t even have 24 hours of recovery and also there was also some help from the refs. There must be some kind of boundaries about what the refs can see. Hopefully, they will take a look at the game”.
After a tied first period at 21, it was a game of runs. Belgium dominated the second quarter (21-11) and led 41-30 at halftime.
Bulgaria bounced back with a 25-13 run and got a 55-54 lead with three minutes left in the third after the second made three in nine attempts by Dee Bost in the game.
However, the two teams entered the last period with Belgium leading by six (66-60). That proved to be the end of it.
Bulgaria cut the lead to four (79-75) just three minutes before the final buzzer, but couldn’t get any closer. Belgium will have to wait for the result between Montenegro and Georgia to know if they are third or fourth in the final standings of Group A.
Photo Credit: FIBA.BASKETBALL