Brevin Pritzl led the Leuven Bears to victory with a thirty-something; — © Kms
In the BetFirst BNXT League, Leuven Bears achieved a much-needed victory against Okapi Aalst in their own Sportoase. The Bears of coach Eddy Casteels remain in the running for Elite Gold with 5 out of 11. The Ajuin then suffered a fifth loss in a row and dropped further into the middle bracket.
Patrick Ceulemans
Okapi Aalst started through the Montenegrin Ivan Maras with a 0-7. However, the Ajuins could not confirm their good start. After a 10-0 intermediate sprint, Leuven Bears took over command. After 14-12 it went through the bomb-packing Brevin Pritzl and with the support Mo Kherrazi and John Fulkerson to a 32-16 Leuven bonus.
Jordan Walker scored, but Okapi Aalst finished badly and suffered many ball losses. Leuven Bears pushed through to a 50-34 lead. At 59-39, the twenty-something flickered in favor of Leuven Bears on the scoreboard. Okapi Aalst still found its momentum. Jordan Walker scored a thirty-something and at 65-53 there seemed to be an exciting end. The remonte of Aalst was stopped and through Joshua Heath (11 points, 9 assists) and Brevin Pritzl (30 points, including 5 three-pointers) it quickly went to a 76-58 score in favor of Leuven Bears. The game was immediately closed and the Leuven victory was a fact. At Okapi Aalst, the Swiss Michel Nzege made his debut with 4 points and 6 rebounds in 25 minutes.
Leuven Bears-Okapi Aalstar: 88-69
Quartz: 20-14, 30-20, 17-19, 21-16
Leuven Bears: Pritzl 30, Allen 9 Heath 11, Fulkerson 4, Vanderhaegen 6, McGlynn 12, Kherrazi 9, Snyers 7
Okapi Aalst: Ledegen 3, Maras 14, Schauvlieger 6, Vermoesen 3, Nzege 4, Marchant 3, Popovic 5, Walker 31
