The American Ernie Cambo, prominently present in the front row in the Country Hall and against Ostend, cleared the debts of the Liège club, provided a capital injection and promptly became chairman of Liège. Since Liège is a non-profit organization, it is not the owner. Ernie Cambo is a founding member of the Mickael Sports Group. Pete Mickael himself is CEO of the Mickael Sports Group and is also a player agent.
In addition to signing three Americans, including the son of Ernie Cambo (Anthoy), Avelon John Jr, Jamele Hagins, a Puerto Rican (Angel Rodriguez) and an American coach Brad Steenberg and an Israeli assistant Daniel Gutt, Liège also brought Belgian Lion Kevin Tumba away from Brussels. By law, but the club from the capital rightly denounced the fact that Liège broke through the “gentlemen’s agreement” and did not first inform Brussels that it wanted to approach Tumba.
Smell of takeover
Last week, Royce Hamm did not return to Belgium. Hamm is an American center at Antwerp Giants and his agent is … Pete Mickeal. His agency indicated that after the death of grandfather he is not mentally ready to take office again. However, he was negotiating with Besiktas Istanbul. “We play against Liège three times this month. This is a move to destabilize our club, a form of competition distortion, so to speak,” the Giants said.
“Incidentally, in November we gave Royce Hamm permission (ten days, ed.) to attend his grandfather’s funeral, continued to pay his wages correctly and, on the other hand, proposed to bring his grandmother to Belgium. We also offered to talk to a mental coach. Something he didn’t think was necessary. I think that as clubs we have done everything to guide Royce Hamm well,” said general manager Eddy Faus of Telenet Giants Antwerp. “By the way, there was no buy-out and this is therefore a breach of contract. There is clearly a smell to the takeover of Liège, where Hamm’s agent is also involved,” said Eddy Faus.
Thierry Wilquin, who is also a board member of the BNXT League in addition to manager of Bergen, confirmed that the League will launch an investigation. “Antwerp Giants has every reason to ask questions about this matter. The league will investigate whether there has been any distortion of competition and whether the takeover of Liege has been carried out correctly in accordance with FIBA regulations. What happened to Antwerp Giants can happen to all our clubs. We must respond.”
Third and fourth win in a row for Antwerp Giants and Charleroi
In the first game of the new look Liège, without Avelon John Jr (hamstring), were Angel Rodriguez (17 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists), Niels Van Den Eynde (16 points, 4 rebounds, 8 assists), Jamelle Haggins ( 19 points) and Nick Dragan (16 points) the stars. So Liège stunted and after a 49-44 bonus halfway, it went to an 87-79 victory against Ostend. With the coast team, coach Dario Gjergja was excluded with a 71-64 score and after two technical fouls. Ostend’s third loss of the season.
The champion is now in the lead with Kangoeroes Mechelen with 8 out of 11. The Maneblussers won the top match of the day by beating Limburg United 85-79. Brian Fobbs (25 points) and Richmond Aririguzoh (17 points, 9 rebounds) were the American strongholds at Kangoeroes Mechelen. Leuven Bears, via Brevin Pritzl (30 points), won 88-69 against Okapi Aalst. The people from Leuven remain in the running for Elite Gold, Okapi Aalst drops to the middle bracket with a fifth consecutive victory.
Antwerp Giants settles with a third consecutive victory (75-77 in Mons) and with 6 out of 10 in the top-5. After an 80-66 victory, the fourth in a row, Charleroi also remains in the top-3 with 8 out of 12. After the Belgian regular phase and thus eighteen match days, the top-5 is qualified for Elite Gold, after which a second round follows with the top five from the Netherlands. The last five from Belgium and the Netherlands compete in the Elite Silver.