Sparta Bertrange imposed its inside game in tramsschap/central, winning 101-85 over Racing Luxembourg before 140 spectators. Karl Abou Khalil's team set the tone early as Victor Chidi Iwuakor (Season PPG: 17.55, RPG: 9.29, AssPG: 1.76) opened with seven straight points, and Sparta edged the first period 23-20. Racing answered through Steve Lanners (Season PPG: 11.46, RPG: 3.38, AssPG: 1.77), who strung together free throws and a three to keep it tight, but back-to-back triples from Victor Stein (Season PPG: 4.15, RPG: 3.40, AssPG: 1.90) pushed Sparta to a 50-43 halftime lead.
The third quarter was the hinge. Sparta authored a 13-5 surge around mid-period Verbeelen's five quick points and steady trips to the line by Max Logelin (Season PPG: 16.62, RPG: 5.45, AssPG: 3.50) widened the gap to double digits. Technicals on Angelo Caruso and Antunio Bivins, plus an unsportsmanlike on Logelin earlier, punctuated a tense phase, but Sparta controlled the rhythm and entered the fourth up 76-58.
Racing never found perimeter touch (5/25, 20% from three). Adam Radomirovic's side did compete on the glass and the stripe (18/27), yet Sparta's efficiency inside (25/39, 64% on twos) decided the contest. The visitors' lead peaked at 19 late (82-101), fueled by bench threes from Jules Beicht and Charel Wallenborn.
Among Sparta's imports, Iwuakor delivered 23 points on outstanding finishing (9/11 on twos), before fouling out late, and Jarvis Williams (Season PPG: 25.62, RPG: 6.00, AssPG: 2.35) added 19. The domestic core backed them: Stein hit 4/5 from deep for 14, Logelin posted 14 points (8/9 FT), 9 rebounds and 6 assists, with Yannick Verbeelen contributing 10 and Philippe Arendt 8.
For Racing, Bivins (Season PPG: 25.77, RPG: 10.77, AssPG: 1.08) had 20, Emanuel Loncaric (Season PPG: 7.77, RPG: 3.08, AssPG: 0.92) 12, and Brendan Temple posted a 12-point, 10-rebound double-double before fouling out. Sparta snapped a two-game slide after an 11-win start to its campaign.
(AI generated)