Second-placed BC Mess edged third-placed Basket Esch 56-51 in a close Phase finale game and stretched its current run to six straight wins. Mess led from the opening basket and controlled most of the evening: 14-9 after the first quarter, 29-23 at halftime and 42-31 after three periods.
Jamie Freymann (Season PPG: 18.59) was the main offensive reference for Mess with 21 points. He produced six straight team points around the end of the first quarter and kept the pressure on in every period. Yann Krings (Season PPG: 7.94) added 14, while Pedrito Kemevuako (Season PPG: 19.88) scored 11. Those three carried the visitors' scoring.
The key stretch came early in the fourth quarter. Mess pushed the margin to 52-35, its biggest lead at 17 points, after a very solid third quarter. Basket Esch then changed the rhythm of the game with a 14-1 surge. Hugo Loureiro Duarte (Season PPG: 4.40) hit back-to-back threes, and Noah Kouamedjouo (Season PPG: 10.25) brought Esch back to 49-53. At that moment the game was fully open again, but Krings answered with a crucial three-pointer for 56-49.
Esch had a balanced attack rather than one dominant scorer. Kouamedjouo finished with 8 points, Benjamin Muller (Season PPG: 13.07) and captain Chahine Bel Mokhtar (Season PPG: 7.86) scored 7 each, while Jamie Zuang (Season PPG: 8.33) and Loureiro Duarte added 6 apiece.
After the game, Mess is ranked 2nd at 6-0 despite a ranking loss of one place, while Basket Esch remains 3rd at 4-3.
(AI generated)