Belgium edge out Montenegro in balanced Skopje tournament

SKOPJE (FIBA EuroBasket 2017 Qualifiers) – Belgium emerged victorious from a hard-fought friendly tournament in Skopje ahead of Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and hosts MKD which provided all teams with three valuably balanced encounters as they are preparing to enter their respective FIBA EuroBasket 2017 Qualifiers campaign.

Belgium and Montenegro finished tied at 2-1 while Bosnia and Herzegovina claimed third spot although they were tied at 1-2 with MKD. In the game that decided the tournament winner, Nikola Vucevic spurred Montenegro to a 23-16 early lead and the Balkan side led by as many as 12 points, 56-44, midway through the third period. As Belgium’s woes increased with Quentin Serron picking up an injury that forced him to withdraw to the bench, Maxime De Zeeuw and Jean-Marc Mwema decided to come to the rescue.

The two forwards inspired a much-needed reaction and the Belgian Lions came back and grabbed a 77-75 lead going into the final minute, albeit a Bojan Dubljevic basket tied the scores at 77-all before the fourth buzzer and sent the game into overtime. The Belgians however held Montenegro to just four points in the extra period and snatched an 87-81 win and the tournament title, while handing Montenegro their first loss since the start of preparations. De Zeeuw led the winners with 15 points and Mwema had 10 while Vucevic and Dubljevic finished with 16 apiece in defeat.

"This tournament was a good test for us, because we played against three quality opponents. We might have lost the final game but I think it is good that a loss happened now and not in qualifying," said Dubljevic. "We had a handicap as Suad Sehovic did not play," added the Valencia center, who took over as Montenegro’s captain after Sehovic was ruled out of the Qualifiers due to injury.

In the game that determined third place, Bosnia and Herzegovina out-scored MKD 18-9 in the final stanza and clinched a 75-69 win, thanks in great part to a 26-point, nine-rebound, four-assist showing by Mirza Teletovic and a near triple-double of 10 points, nine rebounds and eight assists by Nemanja Gordic.

On the opening day of the tournament, Belgium had prevailed 73-67 over Bosnia and Herzegovina behind a 22-point and seven-rebound effort by De Zeeuw and 12 points with seven rebounds from Jonathan Tabu, despite a 13-point, seven-board showing from Jusuf Nurkic. In the other game on Day 1, Montenegro held off MKD 77-73 on the back of a double-double of 19 points and 10 rebounds from Vucevic.

On the second day of action, MKD came from behind to topple Belgium 72-67 as Vojdan Stojanovski erupted for 25 points and eight rebounds and his twin brother Damjan added 20 points and five boards. In the other game, Vucevic had 15 points and Derek Needham added 13 for Montenegro to defeat Bosnia and Herzegovina 78-68, despite a 24-point effort from Teletovic.

FIBA