Emmanuel Lecomte gave the Lions victory 39 seconds from the end. The meeting was interrupted on Sunday after barely 4 minutes and 6 seconds of play in the first quarter due to “a technical problem related to the lighting on the site” of the Sports Center Cair in Nis. The Belgian Lions were leading 3-6 at the scoreboard when the game was stopped due to poor lighting.
The match resumed on Monday with this score. The first quarter ended with a slight Belgian advantage (21-23). The Serbs came back up to the Belgians and the two teams returned to the locker room back to back (38-38).
Serbia took off in the third quarter, thanks in particular to three points from Aleksa Avramovic and Dejan Todorovic, and led 60-53 before the last ten minutes.
In the last quarter, the Serbian lead climbed to 11 points (68-57). The Lions then began their comeback. Lecomte gave the advantage to the Belgians after a layup followed by a free throw (71-72). Ognhen Jarazam put the Serbs back in front with two free throws (73-72). But Lecomte, again, offered victory to the Lions with a layup 39 seconds from time.
Lecomte finished with 16 points (4 rebounds), like Retin Obasohan (6 assists). Ismael Bako is Belgium’s top scorer with 17 points (6 rebounds). Opposite, Vanja Marinkovic put 14 points.
The Belgian Lions (FIBA 37) were already assured of their place in the second round. Belgium (10 points) finished this phase in second place, behind Latvia (11 points) and ahead of Serbia (9 points) while Slovakia (6 points) was eliminated.
The second round, played in three windows between August and February 2023, will bring together twenty-four teams, divided into four groups of six. The Belgian Lions will be in Group I, along with Latvia and Serbia as well as the three teams from Group B, Greece, Turkey and Great Britain. The first three of each group will win their ticket for the World Cup, organized from August 25 to September 10, 2023 in the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia.
The Belgians will no longer face Latvia and Serbia, but will retain the results obtained in the first round against these two teams. In the first leg, the Lions had already won (73-69) against the Serbs, while they were beaten twice by the Latvians.