League leaders Telstar Hesperange edged Sparta Bertrange 61-59 in a tight Phase finale game between the 1st and 4th ranked teams. It is Telstar's fifth straight win, while Sparta remain on 3-7. In the season series, Telstar have now taken three of the four meetings after losing the first.
The game moved quickly and with repeated swings. Telstar opened 5-2, but Sparta answered for an 8-6 lead. Coach Emanuele Santi's team then built the first real gap: after ties at 8-8 and 20-20, Telstar pushed to 32-22, the game's highest lead at 10 points, with Juan Joyner Lopes da Costa dos S. (Season PPG: 6.40) and Raffaele Santi (Season PPG: 13.11) active around the basket.
Sparta stayed composed. Ari Marinosson (Season PPG: 11.83), a 16-year-old from Iceland, was the main driver with 17 points, and the visitors gradually erased the deficit. Diego Maestro Varillas (Season PPG: 4.40) scored several interior baskets in succession during the comeback, and Sparta moved in front 42-40 and later 51-46. That 7-0 burst, finished by Marinosson and Maestro Varillas, was a crucial momentum shift.
Telstar answered with their best stretch of the second half. Jules Cochet (Season PPG: 14.11), Juan Joyner Lopes da Costa dos S., and Samuel Rehak (Season PPG: 14.25) lifted the home side through a 12-4 response from 46-51 to 58-55. Cochet and Lopes da Costa dos S. gave Telstar control again, while Noah Kambire (Season PPG: 8.55) and Ceylian Lortilloir (Season PPG: 6.89) had already provided important scoring earlier.
Sparta stayed within one possession through Pierre Rodrigues (Season PPG: 4.14), Jorge Leocadio Botelho (Season PPG: 8.92), and a late basket from captain Gaspard Thorel Lesselin (Season PPG: 4.88). The official scoresheet finally settled at 61-59, underlining how little separated the two sides.
(AI generated)