Despite victory, Basket Brussels misses out on play-offs: “After our excellent regular competition, this tastes extra sour” (Brussels)

The curtain has fallen for Basket Brussels. Despite a victory at Den Helder Suns, the club from the capital still missed out on the play-offs. After a more than decent regular competition, this was a bit of a pill to swallow for the troops of coach Serge Crevecoeur. The unnecessary final match against Feyenoord will follow for the home crowd on Friday.

The task was clear in the final week of the Elite Silver. Basket Brussels had to win twice and at the same time hope that one of the three leaders (Kangaroos Mechelen, Leuven Bears and Bergen) would fall twice in a row. Brussels did what it had to do by winning 57-62 on Tuesday evening against the distant Dutch Den Helder Suns.

But one day later that unfortunately turned out to be insufficient. Bergen, Kangaroos Mechelen and Leuven Bears all won their matches on Wednesday. Bergen won Spurs in Kortrijk, Kangaroos Mechelen won in Feyenoord Rotterdam and finally Leuven Bears was stronger than Yoast United Nijmegen. And it certainly is that way even before the final match day Basket Brussels falls by the wayside.

“Obviously this is a disappointment,” said coach Serve Crevecoeur. “We started the season with ambitions and also played excellent regular competition. We missed our place in Elite Gold by just a hair. Afterwards we of course shifted our ambitions and we are ready for Tuehe Belgian play-offs. Unfortunately, disaster struck. Our British guard and floor leader Jelani-Watson Gayle dropped out early with a foot injury, required surgery and did not play again. After a heavy fall, our French forward Thomas Hanqieuz also injured his knee. We suddenly missed two important players and with a limited rotation we lost some crucial matches. That makes it even more sad that we are now missing from the top eight.”

Unnecessary final match

On Friday, Brussels will play its last match of the season, at home against Feyenoord Rotterdam. After that game, Crevecoeur can start putting together his team for the 2024-25 season. The start of the competition is scheduled for the weekend of September 13.