Belgium make room for EuroBasket debutants

BRUSSELS (EuroBasket 2015) - Belgium head coach Eddy Casteels has reduced his preliminary squad for EuroBasket 2015 to 14 men, maintaining on the list six players who hope to step out in the first major international tournament of their careers.

Emmanuel Lecomte remains the youngest player on Belgium's EuroBasket preliminary team and he would complete a fairytale-like summer if he were to make the final cut and take part in September's showpiece event.

The 20-year-old point guard, who plays at University of Miami in the NCAA, dazzled Casteels and his staff earlier this summer as he became the first-ever Belgian player to be included on the All-Star Five at an U20 European Championship.

The blazingly-fast Lecomte was the tournament's top scorer as he averaged 19.6 points, also adding 3.4 assists and 3.6 rebounds per game and propelled Belgium to a historical-best eighth place in the competition.

The trio of Belgian champions with Telenet Oostende - Pierre-Antoine Gillet, Jean Salumu and Khalid Boukichou - also continue their quest for a spot on Belgium's final EuroBasket squad.

Gillet is a case apart as he has already been a senior Belgian international since 2012 but was not included on the EuroBasket 2013 squad and hopes to make up for lost time this summer.

The 24-year-old power forward had an excellent campaign with Belgium in last summer's 2nd Qualification Round as he averaged 8.0 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.0 assist per contest.

He followed that up with a superb club season at Oostende, as he played a team-high 23 minutes per game in the Scoore! League and was named the Belgian Player of the Year in the competition.

Boukichou also logged very good minutes in last season's Scooore! League campaign as he featured in 34 games and contributed 7.3 points and 4.7 boards on average.

The 22-year-old center had put up solid figures at the U20 European Championship Division B of 2012 (9.8 points, 7.5 rebounds per game) and was initially included in the senior national team mix last summer, without eventually playing in the 2nd Qualification Round.

Salumu stepped out in 31 league games with Oostende and averaged 6.3 points on a superb 60 percent field goal percentage.

The 25-year-old winger had last suited up for Belgium at youth level, as he took part in the U20 European Championship Division B tournament of 2010.

The fourth player on Belgium's EuroBasket preliminary squad that has yet to get a taste of a major tournament is Kevin Tumba.

The 24-year-old big man with the impressive vertical lift made his senior national team debut last summer, averaging 1.8 points and 2.8 rebounds in the 2nd Qualification Round.

Tumba then went on to enjoy the best club season of his career, as he averaged 8.1 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game with Leuven Bears in the Scooore! League.

Coach Casteels had announced a 17-strong list of candidates for EuroBasket 2015 only last week but stated that he would cut that to 13 prior to Belgium's first warm-up game this summer, against the Netherlands on Tuesday.

The 14th player is sharp-shooter Matthew Lojeski who had permission to join the training camp later and should be available to take part in the game against the Netherlands.

Lojeski suffered an injury in the final days of preparations for EuroBasket 2013 and had to drop out of the squad, which means that if he is included on Belgium's EuroBasket 2015 it will also be a first for him.

The naturalised shooting guard however, who just turned 30 in July, has a long experience in high-level competition as he won a series of trophies during four seasons at Oostende and has participated in both the FIBA Intercontinental Cup and the Euroleague Final Four with Olympiacos in the past two years.

The four players that have been released from Belgium's training camp and will not take part at EuroBasket 2015 are Maxime Gaudoux, Ioann Iarochevitch, Niels Marnegrave and Loïc Schwartz.

Belgium were drawn in Group D at EuroBasket 2015 and will therefore go up against Lithuania, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Estonia and hosts Latvia in Riga.

Belgium preliminary squad for EuroBasket 2015: Lionel Bosco, Khalid Boukichou, Maxime De Zeeuw, Pierre Antoine Gillet, Axel Hervelle, Emmanuel Lecomte, Matthew Lojeski, Wen Mukubu, Jean-Marc Mwema, Jean Salumu, Quentin Serron, Jonathan Tabu, Kevin Tumba, Sam Van Rossom.

Go to eurobasket2015.org for more coverage of EuroBasket 2015.

FIBA