The Belgium Lions saw themselves in prime position to pull off a major upset. But Luka Doncic and Slovenia had other ideas.
Led by 35 points, five rebounds and five assists from Doncic, Slovenia went on a late 19-1 run en route to holding off Belgium and upending the pesky Lions, 88-72, Saturday in Berlin in the knockout round of the EuroBasket tournament. With the win, Slovenia advances to the quarterfinals of this prestigious tournament.
Ukraine will play Poland on Sunday, and that winner will face Slovenia on Wednesday.
Other than Doncic, Slovenia got 13 points from Klemen Prepelic, 12 points and six rebounds from Mike Tobey, and 11 points and two steals from Goran Dragic. Doncic was 11-of-25 from the field — 4-of-10 from beyond the three-point arc – and 9-of-10 from the charity stripe in delivering yet another impressive performance.
The Lions were led by Emmanuel Lecomte (16 points) and Pierre-Antoine Gillet (15 points, 10 boards).
The scrappy Belgium squad took its only lead of the day at 64-63 with 9:09 remaining in the game, capping a brisk 14-6 run. But that seemed to anger Doncic and Slovenia, who quickly took control of the game and kept alive their chances of repeating as EuroBasket champions.
“Belgium was playing great basketball,” Doncic said. “We knew it was going to be a hard game.
“They were fighting until the end, but in the end I think we played a little better.”
Doncic scored five straight points that put Slovenia ahead, 68-65, including on a nifty spin move in the paint and a free throw after he was fouled on the play. Shortly thereafter, the Dallas Mavericks’ superstar point guard fed Prepelic for a three-pointer and a 73-65 lead.
Later on, three free throws from Prepelic and a pair of charity tosses from Doncic padded Slovenia’s lead to 80-65. And a lob-dunk by Tobey put the finishing touches on that massive 19-1 run as Slovenia built an insurmountable 82-65 lead with just 4:02 left in the game.
Doncic entered this contest after scoring 36 points last Tuesday against Germany and a whopping 47 points last Wednesday against France. He now is the first player in the last 30 years to score at least 30 points in three consecutive EuroBasket games as he continues to make a strong case of being the best basketball player in the world.
Slovenia jumped out to a 16-5 lead with 5:50 left in the first quarter on the strength on some serious long-distance shot-making by Doncic. Roaming around the perimeter and showing off his skills from behind the three-point line, Doncic drained his first three three-pointers less than four minutes into the game as Slovenia got a quick grip on this game.
Tobey added a pair of free throws and a dunk as Slovenia immediately took control of the game while letting Belgium know they were going to be in for a long day. Tobey was back in the lineup after missing the game against France with a sprained ankle which occurred on the opening jump ball of the contest against Germany when he inadvertently stepped on the foot of one of the referees.
The Lions remained within striking distance of Slovenia and only trailed, 24-19, after a first quarter that saw Doncic tally 11 points. With Doncic on the bench, Slovenia negotiated a 8-0 run and bolted ahead, 37-27, with 4:33 to go before halftime.
But Belgium wouldn’t go away as they crawled to within 44-41 of Slovenia at intermission.
“Every time we made a run, they came back – mostly because of our mistakes,” Slovenia coach Aleksander Sekelic said. “We have to give credit to them. Also, they shot the ball well.
“I think in the second half we made some adjustments, especially the defense was much better and also they missed some open shots. So it gave us the boost and the lead to finish the game peacefully.”
Doncic came out of the halftime dressing room intent on getting some separation between Slovenia and Belgium. Showing why he’s one of the leading candidates to win the Most Valuable Player award in the upcoming NBA season, Doncic opened the third quarter with a steal and an uncontested fast break layup.
Doncic then powered his way inside for a basket, drained a couple of free throws, bullied his way near the rim for another basket, showed off his defensive prowess by taking a charge, and added a free throw to complete a personal 7-0 run which put Slovenia out front, 56-50, with 3:17 remaining in the third quarter. After Belgium narrowed the deficit to one point, Doncic scored again as Slovenia took a 63-60 lead into the fourth quarter when the contest got completely out of hand thanks to that game-changing 19-1 run.
“We had a great run in the fourth and congrats to Belgium on the game they did,” Doncic said. “They were fighting great but you know it was a hard game and we won.”
Twitter: @DwainPrice
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