Basket Esch C took a clear 108-75 home win over Arantia Larochette C and moved up to 1st place in M-Division 2, a gain of one position. It was also Esch's 8th straight victory, while Larochette, 8th after this round, saw its short two-game recovery end. After the 79-77 defeat in the first meeting, Esch answered decisively and split the season series 1-1.
The game was tight early. Larochette led 19-14 in the first quarter behind Donovan Delhommais (25, 1.86m) and Alvis Kasteckas (Season PPG: 21.84), but Esch closed the period with an 11-4 push for 25-23. The key stretch came in the second quarter. After Larochette had tied the game at 32-32, Raoul Burg's team exploded for a 29-10 finish to the half and built a 61-42 advantage. Dorian Da Cruz (Season PPG: 10.10) was central in that break, hitting repeated threes, and Maurice Bisse Ngo Tiga (Season PPG: 4.53) added a strong scoring burst.
Larochette tried to react after the break with a 7-0 run to open the third quarter, cutting the margin to 61-49. Pedro Nunes Jordao (Season PPG: 19.67) hit from outside, and Kasteckas kept attacking inside, but Esch answered again through Da Cruz and Bisse Ngo Tiga and stayed in control at 80-59 after three quarters.
In the last period, Esch quickly pushed the lead from 80-61 to 93-63, with Da Cruz and Noah Kambala (Season PPG: 18.31) doing major damage. Da Cruz finished with 32 points and 10 made three-pointers, Sowa (Season PPG: 10.94) scored 20, Kambala had 17 despite 4 fouls, and Bisse Ngo Tiga added 16. For Larochette, Delhommais scored 29, Kasteckas 26, Nunes Jordao 7, and Luca Valerius (ARAC) contributed 6.
(AI generated)