Mons downs Aalstar, Earns Top in Belgium
Josh Bostic takes the ball to the hole for two of his 28 against Okapi.
Heading into Week 11 of play in Belgium’s Ethias League, Belfius Mons-Hainaut and Okapi Aalstar were tied for the top spot in the league at 7-3. Okapi took to the road to square off with Belfius to determine who would stand on the top of the League on their own.
Okapi entered the contest without two of their top players, Ryan Thompson and Jason Clark (10ppg and 15ppg, respectively).
The visitors earned a three-point advantage after the first frame on a nine point run to close the quarter, 22:25.
Mons got the lead back on an 8:0 run in the middle of the second to head into the locker room up 40:36.
The third quarter was the difference in the contest as the hosts took control and outscored Aalstar 29:18 during the frame. Josh Bostic tallied 11 points in the quarter to led the Mons attack.
The home club headed into the final 10 up 69:54 and kept the pressure on, repeating the pounding they gave their guests, outscoring them 27:19 to close out the contest with a 23-point win.
Bostic paced the hosts with a game-high 28 points, Ronell Taylor added 18 points and eight rebounds, Brian Qvale dropped in 12 points and snagged 14 rebounds in the win. Derek Raivio led Okapi with 22 points and John Tofi added 13.
In other Ethias League Week 11 contests the Antwerp Giants defeated Belgacom Spirou Basket 77:58. The win improves Antwerp to 6-5 on the year, while dropping Belgacom to 5-5.
Telenet BC Oostende took a win on the road from the Leaven Bears, 73:84 to improve Telenet to 7-4 and tied for second in the league with Okapi. Leaven drops to 3-8 and in seventh place in the league.
Liege Basket hosted VOO Verviers-Pepinster and came out with a 78:76 come-from-behind victory, which improved Liege to 6-5, while dropping VOO to 2-8 and at the bottom of the league. The visitors were up 52:61 heading into the last quarter and Liege outscored them 26-15 in the last 10. Two free throws by Liege’s Ioannis Iarochevitch with just over a minute to play tied the game at 74. Wen Mukubu and Jeremy Green exchanged a lay-up and a jumper to knot the score at 76 and Andre Williamson drove the lane for the last points of the contest for Liege, while Anderson let a three-ball fly at the buzzer, only to come up empty and give the hosts the win.
Voo and Belgacom have a Week 9 game to play in February, hence only having 10 games completed in the standings.
Belgium Ethias League
This Week’s Matches[matches league_id=21 match_day=11 template=summary dateformat=”M. j, Y”]
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