Basket Esch advanced from the M-Coupe de l'Avenir 1/16 finals with a 65-56 home win over Sparta Bertrange after a game that stayed open deep into the second half.
Sparta, coached by Yann Ewert, had the better start and led 15-11 after the first quarter. Anton Mercier (SPA) gave them early momentum from the outside, and the visitors pushed the margin to 17-11 early in the second period. Basket Esch then answered with 8 straight points to move back in front at 19-17.
The key figure before halftime was Euricky Semedo da Veiga (LAL), the 15-year-old captain. With Esch trailing 21-22, he scored his team's last 8 points of the half by himself and turned the score into 29-26. Basket Esch went into the break ahead 29-28.
Sparta briefly reclaimed the lead at 30-29 after the interval, but coach Stéphane Feller's side responded well. The decisive sequence came late in the third quarter: from 40-39, Esch produced a 10-0 run to 50-39. Edmilson Vieira Miguel (LAL) started that burst, and after the flagrant foul on Mathieu Onclin (SPA), Bilal El Mokadmi (LAL) stretched the lead further with a three-pointer. That 11-point gap was the highest lead of the game.
Sparta stayed close through Mercier (SPA), who finished with 18 points, while Petar Kulisic (SPA) added 12 and William Scarsbrook (SPA) 11. Alexander Hugo Bel Möller (SPA) contributed 8. Esch kept control through Semedo da Veiga's 21 points and Miguel's 16, with El Mokadmi adding 7 and Ihsane Adam Moulai-Souiga (LAL) 6.
(AI generated)