AS Soleuvre B controlled this M-Nationale 3 relégation game well and beat Luxembourg Phoenix 82-66, a result that lifted Soleuvre B one place to 3rd while Phoenix stayed 7th. It was also Soleuvre's third win against Phoenix this season.
Hervé Marie-Rose's team took command early. After 2-2, Soleuvre produced a 13-2 run to 15-4, with Rainjay Maturan (Season PPG: 6.56) and the 22-year-old Irish forward/center Kieran Nono (Season PPG: 12.69) driving the first separation. Phoenix were still close enough at 24-20 in the second quarter, but Soleuvre answered with a strong 19-9 phase to go into halftime up 43-29.
The home side kept the game in its hands after the break. Soleuvre opened the third quarter by stretching the margin to 47-29, and the biggest lead came at 55-33. In that stretch, Nono scored again and again around the basket and gave his team clear offensive stability.
Luxembourg Phoenix reacted in the fourth quarter. Dany Deaibes (Season PPG: 9.73) knocked down back-to-back threes, and Joseph Zeidan Ep. Beaucourt (Season PPG: 8.77) followed with another to bring the score back to 66-58. That was the important moment of the evening. Soleuvre responded immediately with an 8-0 run, through Carlos Jordy Borges (Season PPG: 10.11), Maturan and Nono, to move back out to 74-58.
Nono finished with 33 points, matching his season high. Maturan added 15, Borges scored 15 and Ibrahim Hasic (Season PPG: 12.87) had 9. For Phoenix, Oscar Khoury (CED) led with 17 points, Deaibes had 14, while Simone Buran (Season PPG: 16.38) and François Tegho (Season PPG: 20.00) scored 9 each. Tegho was already in foul trouble in the second quarter and fouled out in the fourth, which reduced Phoenix's options for a later comeback.
(AI generated)