EUROBASKET QUALIFIERS

Belgium started and finished strong to cruise to a 98-49 rout of Switzerland in their EuroBasket qualifying Group E clash.

Belgium players turned into crowd-pleasers in the game against Switzerland

The hosts entirely outclassed the Swiss in the first and fourth quarters, outscoring them 54-15 across the two periods combined.

Back-to-back threes from Pierre-Antoine Gillet had Belgium leading 27-8 at the end of the first quarter.

Switzerland improved in the second quarter and an early rally pulled it back to single figures and a jump-shot from Dusan Mladjan making it 38-29 with 3:03 left in the half.

But Belgium responded to that with 14 straight points, ending the first half with back-to-back threes from Sam Van Rossum to go 52-29 up.

Switzerland had little hope from there, and Belgium outscored them 27-7 in the final 10 minutes as they ran up the score to improve their standing in the group.

Beye Tabu-Eboma led Belgium with 18 points while Gillet had 13 an Van Rossum and Maxime De Zeeuw collected 10 each.

David Ramseier had 13 points for Switzerland with Mladjan adding 12.