Keye van der Vuurst and Vrenz Bleijenbergh led Oostende to victory. — © BELGIUM
A full Lotto Arena with 5,000 spectators attended the third game of the final between Antwerp Giants and Ostend. — © BELGIUM
Telenet Giants Antwerp lost its home advantage against Ostend in the third game of the Belgian title final of the play-offs. In the Lotto Arena, filled with 5,000 spectators, the Sinjoren lost 70-87 to the coastal team. The West Flemings can conquer their twelfth consecutive title in the COREtec Dôme on Saturday in their own midst. In the event of a loss, a fifth and decisive match will follow in the Lotto Arena on Monday at 5 p.m.
Patrick Ceulemans
Ostend turned out to be a flashy start. Especially the Dutch guard Keye van der Vuurst fooled around with the Antwerp defense and quickly created a 5-10 bonus. Antwerp Giants reacted to a 13-17 score, but in defense things were not going well and via a sharp Breein Tyree a quick Ostend ran away after 16-23 to a 16-32 bonus after the first quarter. The Giants found their momentum in the second slide, immediately took a 12-0 and found the connection at 28-32. Jean-Marc Mwema, who hit two three-pointers, was supported by Reggie Upshaw and the connection was a fact at 33-35. Telenet Giants Antwerp was back in business but could not take over the lead. On the contrary, it got into trouble, the second slider won 25-17, but after 40-44 it went into halftime with a 41-49 deficit. Anyone who had expected a strong third quarter from the Sinjoren was in trouble. Ostend started again with a steamroller and immediately ran away to a 43-56 bonus via Pierre-Antoine Gillet, Vrenz Bleijenbergh and star player Keye van der Vuurst (23 points). Ostend prevailed, the Giants did not come off offensively and especially Ferdinand Zylka and Desonta Bradford were not present again. With barely 6 points in that third slide, it went to a 47-71 bonus for Ostend. The game was over and in the fourth quarter Jean-Marc Mwema quickly faced his fifth foul. With three consecutive three-pointers, Quinten Smout caused some Antwerp enthusiasm. After a 17-4 intermediate sprint, Antwerp Giants softened to 64-78. However, the profit for Ostend had long been fixed. Telenet Giants Antwerp never had the lead on the scoreboard and therefore realized a deserved defeat versus Ostend. A grand Ostend immediately paved the way to a twelfth consecutive title.
Telenet Giants Antwerp-Ostend 70-87
Quartz: 16-32, 25-17, 6-22, 23-15
Telenet Giants Antwerp: Anderson 8, Smout 9, Willems 2, Bradford , Van Cleemput 0, D’Espallier 3, De Ridder 5, Zylka 2, Marinkovic 14, Mwema 6, Upshaw 14
Ostend: Buysse 3, Tyree 18, Van der Vuurst 23, Jovanovic 8, Bleijenbergh 11, Barcello 4, Buysschaert 6, Thurman 3, Gillet 9, Troisfontaines 1
