Sparta Bertrange won 91-79 at Résidence Walferdange in this M-U22 qualification game, with the 8th-ranked visitors taking control from the second quarter onward. Walferdange, 7th in the standings, competed with a five-man group and started well at 21-18 after ten minutes, mainly through Maurice Grivet (Season PPG: 15.08) and Teodor Lukic (Season PPG: 15.50).
The game changed in the second period. After RES had tied it at 25-25, Sparta produced the key run of the evening: a 12-0 burst from 29-28 to 41-28. Max Hagen (Season PPG: 18.00) was central in that stretch, with Louis Evrard and Tom Alesch (SPA) also scoring, and coach Elton Jorge Ferreira's team went into the break up 41-32.
Walferdange stayed active behind Grivet, Lukic and Aurel Nicula (Season PPG: 5.57), but Sparta kept finding answers. In the third quarter, Hagen hit another strong scoring spell, Tom Germeaux (Season PPG: 18.88) added timely baskets, and Mathieu Verharen Würth, a 19-year-old 2.00m forward, gave steady inside-out production. Sparta led 69-57 after three.
Early in the fourth, the visitors stretched the margin to 17 points, their highest lead, at 82-65. RES then answered through Grivet and Lukic, cutting the gap to nine at 86-77, but Sparta closed it out with Germeaux and Evrard.
Sparta had five double-digit scorers: Hagen and Evrard with 22 each, Germeaux 15, Verharen Würth 14 and Leo Engels (21, 1.97m) 11. For coach Filip Vranjes, Grivet finished with 26, Lukic 21 and Nicula 17, while 17-year-old Ukrainian Illia Malkin added 9. In the updated table, RES are 7th (+1) and SPA 8th (+1).
(AI generated)