Racing Luxembourg controlled this M-U22 qualification game after a short early deficit and beat Basket Esch 80-55. The home side climbed two places to 4th in the standings at 3-1, while Basket Esch, despite a gain of one rank, is 8th at 1-2. Racing is now on a two-game winning run, and Esch has lost two in a row.
Basket Esch opened well and moved in front 10-6 through Luka Stankovic and Deni Sabotic. The game turned before the first break. Racing answered with a 17-4 run to close the quarter 23-14, with captain Angelo Caruso, Samuel Rehak and Louis Cocard all scoring during that stretch. Cocard also put in 5 consecutive points inside the run.
The second quarter kept the same pattern. Esch came back to 31-25 and later 37-31, mainly behind Deni Sabotic and Edi Sabotic, but Uros Niksic's team reacted well and finished the half on a 10-2 sequence for a 47-31 lead.
After the break, Racing quickly restored full control. From 47-33, the home team produced a 7-0 push to 54-33 and carried a 61-42 advantage into the last quarter. Basket Esch reduced the gap to 70-51, but Racing answered with 10 unanswered points and reached its highest lead at 80-51.
Racing had a balanced attack with five players in double figures: Louis Cocard (17, 1.89m) led with 16 points, Igor Durovic (21, 1.87m) added 13, Caruso scored 12, Yair Portal Levav 11 and Leo Backes 10. Cocard stood out with four made three-pointers and no foul committed.
For Basket Esch, Deni Sabotic (18, 1.85m) finished with 14 points, Stankovic added 11, Edi Sabotic had 9, and captain Fabien Vandler scored 8.
(AI generated)