© Karel Hemerijckx
Basketball
Athenas Lummen has lost for the ninth time in a row in the Top Division 1. The Limburgers lost 55-58 at home against Kortrijk Spurs. The chances of participating in the play-offs are shrinking noticeably.
Lummen started the match strongly with three-pointers from Van Veen (2x), Filtjens and Schillebeeks. Van Veen pushed further to 25-15. Thanks to the rebound dominance, Kortrijk came back to the same level. After halftime, Spurs started with an 0-8, which led to a further lead of 36-48.
“We started the game as we planned,” coach Tom Johnson said. “If we struggle with open shots or don’t finish efficiently, we have to work on boxing out and getting the rebounds: that’s our philosophy. But it was precisely in that area that Kortrijk hurt us at various times. It is already difficult to score points due to the absence of Ine Vanderhoydonks (back) and Anouk Jorissen (double wrist fracture), but then you cannot just give away those scores.”
Nerves
Lummen had to wait for a bomb from Cuyvers to equalize again. Schillebeeks and Ndabukiye made it 52-50, but Kortrijk immediately responded: 55-56. Eight seconds before the end, Kortrijk lost the ball. Lummen could not take advantage of this, because Van Veen also lost the ball. “This month is very important for the rankings,” Van Veen realized. “So we were ready. It is very bad to lose this way. We fought very hard for it. Everyone played well, but the shots were not falling. We kept fighting, even when we were 12 points behind. But the last play didn’t work anymore, let’s quickly forget about it.”
“We came out of the locker room too lax,” coach Johnson said. “We made some adjustments, which gave us the lead again. It’s a shame that Kortrijk took over again. We still had the opportunity to win in the closing seconds. Maybe the nerves hit too hard then. We did everything we could, but it didn’t work… It will now be very difficult to reach the top eight and the play-offs.”
QUARTTERS: 23-15, 9-18 (32-33) 9-15 (41-48), 14-10.
ATHENAS LUMMEN: VAN VEEN 10+2, FILTJENS 3+0, SCHILLEBEEKS 3+2, NDABUKIYE 6+4, VAN HEUKELOM 0+0, Ndiribe 5+6, Cuyvers 3+8, Ceuleers 0+0, Lauwers 2+0, Hermans 0+0.
© Karel Hemerijckx
© Karel Hemerijckx
© Karel Hemerijckx
© Karel Hemerijckx