SKOPJE (North Macedonia) - Belgium, Estonia, Switzerland and Romania are the four teams remaining in the hunt for promotion after the FIBA U16 EuroBasket 2024, Division B Quarter-Finals were played out.
The Belgians did the job first in a regional matchup against Netherlands. 87-65 was the score at the end, but the Dutch created some problems for their neighbors in the first half, leading by as many as 7 points, but Belgium gained control in the third quarter.
Stellar defense was the name of the game with only 25 points allowed in the second half of the game. A 24-point swing for Belgium in the second half allowed Belgium to cruise to home with a win, powered by Tim Waerniers' 19 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals. Aaron Ona Embo topped the scoring chart with 24 points after knocking down five three-pointers.
Estonia set the tone early, blocked all routes to the rim and ran over Slovakia 73-48. The Estonians got in the driver's seat early and never looked back with an 18-point lead already at the half. Despite a comfortable win, none of the Estonian players went for more than 13; Roman Avdejev posted the highest efficiency of 16 with 10 points, 7 rebounds and 2 blocks.
Switzerland's 79-72 success over Montenegro will go down as the closest encounter of the Quarter-Finals. It was a very close game with the Montenegrins ahead throughout the majority of the first half and up 63-60 with eight minutes to go; Switzerland answered with 12-1 run in a two and a half minute stretch.
It was a point of no return as the Swiss secured a trip into the last four. Elyjah Rebetez was the leading force as he put on a show of 22 points, 12 rebounds and 9 assists, only an assist shy of a triple-double showing. Brayden Zumstein added 17-point, 12-rebound double-double.
Romania also had no problems in a 96-73 win over Sweden, despite a slower start in the opening quarter. Trailing 10-6 at the start, everything after that was a one-way street. Romania led 52-40 at the half already and erased all doubts with furious 22-9 third stanza. David Fometescu scored game-high 27 points while David-Ioan Rasoga added a double-double of 21 points and 14 rebounds.
Elsewhere, hosts North Macedonia dug in deep to hold off Denmark in a 70-67 win to join Classification 9-12, where they will be joined by Portugal, Great Britain and Hungary who all took fairly convincing victories.
Semi-Finals Pairings
Belgium vs Estonia Switzerland vs Romania
FIBA