Basket Esch opened the championship round with a 78-69 home win over US Heffingen, built on timely runs and a balanced closing stretch. The first quarter was even (18-18), but Coach Pavlovic's side struck early in the second: a 7-0 burst (Walak, Müller, Jesus Frederico) pushed Esch ahead and the hosts reached halftime at 37-30.
Heffingen answered after the break. Coach Halsdorf leaned on Danilo Hess and Ethan Steinmetz to trim the gap to four (39-35, 43-39), with a wavedoff three from Steinmetz keeping Esch narrowly in front late in the third (51-47). Early in the fourth, Melvin Pereira Furtado scored four in a row to reestablish an eightpoint margin (55-47), but Heffingen replied with a 5-0 spurt to 58-56. From 70-66, Esch delivered the decisive 6-0 run Jesus Frederico, Walak and Noah Kouamedjouo to 76-66, their largest lead (+10), and closed it out through captain Benjamin Müller.
Esch's scoring was spread: Emmanuel Jesus Frederico (2.00m, CPV) had 17, Müller (Season PPG: 13.80) 16, Pereira Furtado (Season PPG: 8.09) 12 and Kevin Nnganyadi (Season PPG: 5.20) 9, including a key fourthquarter three. Hugo Loureiro Duarte (Season PPG: 3.91) added a late triple at 66-60, and Olivier Walak (POL) chipped in 4 important points.
Heffingen's offense was headlined by Hess with 35 (14 twos, 7 free throws), carrying more than half of the team's total and scoring repeatedly through contact. Steinmetz (Season PPG: 12.88) followed with 18 and Nils Rock (Season PPG: 11.89) had 16, keeping the visitors within one run until the final minutes.
Basket Esch sits atop the Phase finale at 1-0; Heffingen is second at 0-1. For Heffingen, this result extends their skid to three straight defeats. Coaches Pavlovic and Halsdorf traded timeouts in the second half, but Esch's late 6-0 answered the final question in a ninepoint game.
(AI generated)