Jean Salumu (R) of Belgium competes during the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 European Qualifiers between Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and Belgium in Sarajevo, BiH, on Feb. 23, 2018. BiH won 72-70. (Xinhua/Haris Memija)
SARAJEVO, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- In the final seconds of the game, the Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) national basketball team won over Belgium 72-70 in the third round of the European qualifiers for the World Cup 2019 here on Friday evening.
BiH scored first in the beginning of the match, but Belgium equalized soon. Amar Gegic brought 6-points lead to the home team minutes later. With Retin Obasohan's turnovers from the visitors, the score was knotted at 17-17 when the first quarter ended.
The hosts led 34-28 into the halftime, but played poorly after the interval and trailed 45-51 by the end of the third quarter.
With 2:52 ramaining in the fourth quarter, the visiting team still had a 7-point lead after the Belgian guard Retin Obasohan threw down a dunk on the break, but the hosts played aggressively and reclaimed the lead with a 13-4 run. Leading 27-19 in the last quarter, the hosts edged the visitors 72-70.
Quentin Serron scored a game-high 19 points for Belgium, while Nemanja Gordic had 17 points for BiH.
In Gruop E, BiH rank 2nd with five points, and in the previous two games BiH beat Russia, but was defeated by France. After losing three games successively, Belgium stayed at the bottom with 3 points.
