Second-ranked Arantia Larochette beat Racing Luxembourg 116-95 in Larochette and completed the season sweep after the 105-83 road win. Karolis Abramavicius' team is now on an eight-game winning streak, while Racing stays 8th despite a two-place gain and has dropped three straight.
The game was shaped very early. After Bivins gave Racing a 3-2 lead, Arantia answered with 12 points in a row through Tyrell Sturdivant, Michael Anthony Carter III and Kevon Godwin for 14-3. The home side closed the first quarter at 36-16, then opened the second with a 5-0 push to 41-16. Racing had productive stretches behind Antunio Xavier Bivins (Season PPG: 26.84, RPG: 9.86, AssPG: 1.05) and Brendan Adam Temple (Season PPG: 16.63, RPG: 10.41, AssPG: 2.86), but Arantia still went to halftime ahead 73-43.
The third quarter removed the remaining suspense. Arantia moved from 73-43 to 80-43, and later reached a game-high 40-point lead at 94-54. Racing won the last quarter 24-15, mainly through Bivins and Temple, but the gap was already too large.
Carter III (Season PPG: 22.29, RPG: 4.7, AssPG: 3.35) was the MVP with 24 points, 5 assists, 4 steals and 2 blocks, including an excellent 3/4 from three. Sturdivant (Season PPG: 16.17, RPG: 9.23, AssPG: 0.91) added 27 points on excellent shooting, 5/6 on 2-pointers and 5/7 on 3-pointers. Godwin scored 19 and hit an excellent 5/9 from deep. Among the local support, Derek Wilson had 9 points on 5/6 shooting overall, Dylan Rocha Pires scored 11, and Edson Rafael De Sousa Silva added 10 before fouling out.
For Racing, Bivins finished with 38 points on excellent 16/20 2-point shooting. Temple delivered 20 points, 7 rebounds and 8 assists. Team-wise, Arantia shot a good 59% on 2-pointers and 50% on 3-pointers, with 22 assists and only 10 turnovers; Racing committed 17 turnovers.
(AI generated)