Belgium upset Portugal as Semi-Finals field set

SKOPJE (FIBA U18 European Championship 2018, Division B) – The quartet of Belgium, Estonia, the Netherlands and Slovenia took confident strides towards the three available promotion spots at the FIBA U18 European Championship 2018, Division B by conquering the Quarter-Finals on Friday in Skopje.

The second-seeded Belgians caused the only upset of the evening, defeating Group A winners Portugal 67-54, despite Portuguese scoring ace Francisco Amarante going off for a game-high 26 points.

Sam Hofman finished the contest with a team-high 16 points for the winners, Niels De Ridder added 12 points and 8 rebounds, while Haris Bratanovic racked up 7 points, 14 rebounds and 5 assists.Slovenia will play Belgium in the Semi-Finals

The Steven Ibens-coached Belgium will now meet Slovenia in the Semi-Finals after they nipped a 68-65 victory against Czech Republic, with Petar Vujacic collecting 19 points and Jure Licen chipping in with 15 points and 8 boards.

Elsewhere, Estonia maintained their perfect record in the tournament and got closer to medals in Skopje by easing to a 78-60 win over Belarus in their Quarter-Final match-up. Henri Drell led the Baltic side with 25 points, while Mark Jaakson turned in a 15-point contribution.Henri Drell carried Estonia one step closer to Division A

Dzmitry Ryuny double-doubled once again for Belarus, collecting 16 points, 21 rebounds and 3 steals, as teammate Raman Hests was the only other double-digit scorer on the team with 11 points.

Having topped Sweden in the only other Quarter-Final, the Netherlands moved into the Semi-Finals with a 93-71 scoreline, with Morgan Stilma and Stan van den Elzen sharing the top-scorer honors with 17 points apiece.
Netherlands will try to stop the undefeated Estonia in the Semi-Finals

Meanwhile, Hungary began the Classification Games 9-16 with a 99-67 win over Norway, Bulgaria beat Iceland 81-61, Poland pipped Austria 80-71, while Israel scored a 93-81 victory over Slovakia.

Lower down in the standings, Azerbaijan squeezed past Romania 62-61, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia shredded Denmark 85-54, Switzerland came away with a 63-61 win over Georgia and Luxembourg kept Albania winless with a 84-61 triumph.

Semi-Final pairings:

Belgium v Slovenia Estonia v Netherlands [/unordered]

FIBA