November 22, 2009
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Devotion
Belgian League semifinals Game 3, May 30, 2009
Matt Walsh - Spirou BasketHome is where the heart was on the last night of the Belgian League semifinals as both Spirou Basket and Dexia Mons-Hainaut easily won do-or-die games before their respective home crowds to prevail in best-of-three series. Defending champion Spirou used a 22-point advantage in the middle quarters to down visiting Antwerp Diamond Giants 70-56 behind 21 points from Matt Walsh. Charleroi will try for its eighth Belgian League title in the finals. Mons-Hainaut fans enjoyed one of the highest-scoring semifinals imaginable this time of year as their team outgunned Generali Okapi Aalstar 109-94. Marcus Sommerfille led six double-figure scorers on Mons-Hainaut with 24 points. He and three teammates - Travis Conlan, Elton Nesbitt and Nate Reinking - made 4 three-pointers each in the shootout as both teams combined for 34 strikes from long range. It will be the second finals appearance for Mons-Hainaut, which has yet to win the title.

In Charleroi, the reigning champs Spirou relied too much on three-pointers while falling behind to Antwerp 13-14 after a quarter. The game remained close until Jonathan Tabu's triple was followed by 8 consecutive points from Matt Walsh in an 11-0 run that put Spirou up 36-25 at halftime. Matela, Jerry Johnson and Justin Hamilton helped Spriou blast off with a 14-0 run after the break, giving the hosts a 50-25 lead that was too much for Antwerp to make up. To Walsh's 21 points, Dwayne Broyles added 10 and Len Matela 9. Meanwhile, in the other semifinal, triples from Nesbitt and Conlan around 5 points in a row from Ben Ebong sent host Mons-Hainaut on an 11-0 game-opening run against Aalstar. The first-half lead peaked at 36-20 on another triple, by Sommerville, and was matched again at 49-33, as Kelvin Torbert joined the three-point party on the way to a 52-40 halftime lead. The scoring pace stayed high after halftime, but since neither team could stop the other, Ebong and Conlan kept Mons-Hainaut in front by double digits, nearing the 20-point barrier midway through the fourth quarter. The local fans had the pleasure of watching their team tack on 20 points in the last 5 minutes to soar into the finals with 109 points! Without benefit of a three-pointer, Ebong followed Sommerville with 21 points, while Conlan had 16, Torbert 15, Nesbitt 14 and Reinking 12.


Semifinals Playoffs, best of 3 games
Record Team Game 1 Game 2 Game 3
2 Spirou Basket Charleroi (1) 71 54 70
1 Antwerp Diamond Giants (4) 56 61 56
2 Dexia Mons-Hainaut (2) 88 63 109
1 Generali Okapi Aalstar (3) 53 80 94

Semifinals Playoffs round games
Game 1 Spirou Basket vs. Antwerp Diamond Giants 71-56 May 26
Game 1 Dexia Mons-Hainaut vs. Generali Okapi 88-53 May 26
Game 2 Antwerp Diamond Giants vs. Spirou Basket 61-54 May 28
Game 2 Generali Okapi vs. Dexia Mons-Hainaut 80-63 May 28
Game 3 Spirou Basket vs. Antwerp Diamond Giants 70-56 May 30
Game 3 Dexia Mons-Hainaut vs. Generali Okapi 109-94 May 30

Saturday, May 30, 2009
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