Etzella Ettelbruck B edged Basket Esch B 88-87 in a very tight M-Division 1 game between two teams now level at 9-11. Gavin Love's side moved up one place to 9th, while Basket Esch B climbed to 5th despite a fourth straight defeat.
ETZB had the better start. Lenny Lopes Morais and Marvin Delgado dos Santos set the tone for a 21-14 first quarter, and the home side then opened the game's biggest lead at 36-21. That stretch came with a 9-0 run, driven mainly by Lou Clees and Olivier Schneider. Esch B responded before the break through Damien Thill and Antoine Kühn and reduced the gap to 43-39.
The second half stayed open. Etzella still led 51-42, but LALB kept finding answers. Thill tied the game at 68-68, and after ETZB were still ahead 79-73, Esch produced a 7-0 run to go in front 80-79. Luka Stankovic then made it 82-81. Etzella answered immediately: Schneider scored inside, and Delgado dos Santos hit a big three for 86-82. Clees added the last two home points at the line for 88-84, before Raphaël Cessat hit a late three to bring Esch back to one.
Delgado dos Santos (16, 1.90m) led the winners with 22 points and 4 three-pointers. Clees (Season PPG: 16.00) added 18, and Lopes Morais (Season PPG: 10.58) had 15. Schneider (26, 1.85m) gave ETZB 9 valuable points in only his second appearance.
For Esch B, Thill (23, 1.90m) finished with 23 points and 4 threes. Kühn (Season PPG: 11.58) scored 14 with 4 triples, and the 19-year-old French player Cessat (Season PPG: 11.71) also had 14. Both teams made 12 shots from three-point range.
(AI generated)