Racing Luxembourg overpowered Etzella Ettelbruck 92-73 at Deichwisen/Central in the M-U18 Division 1 Phase finale. Etzella burst out 19-8 in the first quarter behind Marvin Delgado Dos Santos and Noah Wolter, prompting an early timeout from coach Hristo Stoykov. Pete Rajniak then strung together six straight points to trim it to 23-15 after 10 minutes.
The game flipped in the second quarter. Etzella still led 31-21 after Lenny Lopes Morais' three, but Racing closed the half on a 23-10 run. Oskar Berger (Season PPG: 12.18) repeatedly found seams, Stefan Stoykov (Season PPG: 22.64) hit from deep and Nick Wallers' free throws sent Racing to the locker room up 44-41.
Racing tightened the screws in the third (60-51 after 30'), with Sarunas Sulcas (Season PPG: 14.78) and Stoykov keeping the offense steady, and Julian Klimkowski contributing inside. Early in the fourth, Etzella tried to rally Gilles Schock's triple and two threes from Lopes Morais made it 65-60 but Racing delivered the decisive blow: a 9-0 surge from 60-65 to 74-60 fueled by Louis Cocard's back-to-back triples (Season PPG: 13.08) and Sulcas at the line. Klimkowski then scored on consecutive trips to push it to 83-67, and the visitors cruised to the finish, their largest lead 19 at the buzzer.
Stoykov (17, BGR) led all scorers with 25, Rajniak added 17 and Berger 15 for Racing, with Sulcas 13 and Cocard 12. For Etzella, Delgado Dos Santos (Season PPG: 26.25) posted 24 and Lopes Morais (Season PPG: 17.83) 22. Foul trouble hurt the hosts late: captain Wolter, Lopes Morais and Charel Wilmes all fouled out.
Racing repeats November's 92-point output against Etzella and moves up to 2nd in the Phase finale table, while Etzella slips to 4th. Racing are on a three-game winning run in their recent series. Coach Nelson Delgado's side led early, but Racing's second-quarter swing and fourth-quarter run decided it.
(AI generated)