Gent Dragons wins D2 Championship D2 Regular
season runner-up won its second game in a row vs St Jan this
time in Antwerp to win the D2 Championship.
The final score of the game was 71-82 and
Brandon Freeman (191-G-83, college:
UALR) was once again the topscorer in the game.
Even game in the 1st quarter with Gent taking a slim 1pt
lead. Gent took its biggest lead of the game so far at 28-33
thanks to 4 pts by Rados and Freeman.
St Jan was not about to let Gent take a bigger lead and
thanks to 6 unanswered pts by the home team by among others
Van Schil and Lemaire retook the lead at 34-33.
Sam Verstraete then made his first points of the game a
3pt shot that gave Gent the lead again. The Dragons were
able to hold on to the lead for the rest of the quarter and
even extend it to 3 pts at the half.
Freeman, Rotsaert and Van Langehove gave Gent a 9 pt lead
in the 3rd quarter at 43-52. Once again St Jan dug deep and
came back to within 2pts on scores by Lemaire and Ceyssens
(51-53). Gent however thanks to Freeman and Verstraete
outscored St Jan 2-6 to close out the 3rd quarter and take a
53-59 lead into the final 10 minutes.
The final quarter saw the home-team come to within 4 pts
on 2 occasions but they were not able to overcome the
scoring of Freeman and Rotsaert in the 4th quarter.
A major reason for St Jan's loss was their free throw
shooting, only making 13 of 36 FT's for the game.
St Jan beat Gent Dragons 3 times this season, 2 during
the regular season and the first finals game but in the end
Gent won the 2 games that counted the most and became a
deserving Champion.
St Jan: Pieter Van Rillaer 3, Ward Lemaire 15, Witse Van
Schil 15, Thomas Van de Vondel 5, Mitchell Gorremans 15,
Jochen Ceyssens 18. Gent: Sam Verstraete 8, Sam Rotsaert 17, Hans Van
Langenhove 7, Brandon Freeman 32, Gillis Mestdag 2,
Krunoslav Rados 11, Bojan Gnjato 5.
The question if Gent Dragons will be playing in D1 next year should
be decided in the next weeks, when the team committee has to appear
before the Belgian Olympic Committee to defend it's licence dossier.
Okapi
back in Division I Okapi Aalstar - Power Wevelgem 78-70 (on 22 April 2006)
Quarter by quarter score evolution: 21-20, 46-41, 59-60 and 78-70.
Okapi: S. Tison 16; P. Gonzales 18; W. Van Nimmen 2; W. Van de Keere 5; S.
Moris 9;
D.
Kalut 28.
Wevelgem: P. Van Hoecke 2; T. Van de Keere 8; S. Naudts 4; S. Robeyst 16; B.
Guillemyn 5; A. Lichodzijewski 12; R. Kitieu 6; E. Mampuya 17. Okapi
Aalstar has become the 2006 Division II champion by winning the
best-of-three play-off final series 2-1. It was also the only Division II
club that requested and was granted a Division I license.
On Thursday, 20 April 2006, Power Wevelgem had beaten
Okapi
Aalstar in Game 2 and tied the series: 88-75 (best scorers for Wevelgem
had been Lichodzijewski 18 and T. Van de Keere 15;
Gonzales 23 and
Tison 20 had been the Okapi top offensive players).
Div
2 All Star Game A unique
event takes places next week Wedneday April 26 in Gent.
The Tolhuis Gym is host to a Div 2 East vs West all star Game combining the
best players in D2 from the East and West Flanders teams.
The game starts at 20.00 and there are plenty of events scheduled during the
evening, among others a dunk contest and 3 pt shoutout.
The East team coached by Pat Gevaert, Erik Rogiers and Dirk De Waele consists of
Meindert Verstraete, Olivier Foucart, Wouter De Wilde, Tim Van den Eynde,
Kenneth Desloover and Jeroen Selhort all from Falco, Gent Dragons is represented
by Tibo T'Joncke, Gillis Mestdagh and Krunoslav Rados, the roster also has 3
players from De Pinte namely Nick Verrept, Maarten den Gelder and Stijn D'Hondt.
The West team has players from Okapi Aalstar, Power Wevelgem and Waregem and are
coached by Tom Johnson, Kris De Pauw and Peter Castelein.
The roster is as follows, from Aalst, Stephen Tison, Pablo Gonzales, David Kalut
and Stephane Moris, Wevelgem is represented by Brecht Guillemyn, Steve Robeyst,
Tom Van de Keere and Alexander Lochodzjewski. The remaining 4 spots go to
Waregem players Fred Van Vooren, Marnic Kestemont, Bart Cleymans and Jo D'Hondt.
Estaimpuis was promoted from D2 to D1
St.Louis, Mariembourg and Lummen were relegated from D2 to D3
Blankenberge, Wilsele, Profondeville were promoted from D3 to D2
Atomics Brussels was relegated from D1 to D2
