Basket Esch won a close one, 73-67 at Etzella Ettelbruck, and stayed first in the M-U16 Phase finale. It is Esch's third win in four meetings between the teams this season, and a fifth straight victory overall. Despite the loss, Etzella moved up one place to third.
Etzella started well and led 16-14 after the first quarter, with Seid Muratovic, the 14-year-old Montenegrin, and Gilles Schock giving Thierry Kremer's team early control. The second quarter had several swings. Esch turned 20-18 into 24-20, then Etzella answered with a 9-0 run to 29-24, driven by Ben Schock. Basket Esch reacted immediately through Alexandre Kremer, who scored 6 points in a row, but Etzella still edged halftime 31-30.
The game changed in the third quarter. After Muratovic made it 34-30, Vincent Gevrey's team took over. Basket Esch produced a 20-6 stretch from 36-36 to 56-42, their decisive sequence of the night. Faisal Abdirizak Mohamed (Season PPG: 7.67) was sharp in that phase, and Paul Blettery (Season PPG: 13.31) plus Edmilson Vieira Miguel added steady scoring. Esch won the quarter 26-11 and built a 14-point lead, their biggest advantage.
Etzella pushed back hard in the last period. From 56-70, the home side scored 9 points in a row to close to 65-70, with Ben Schock (Season PPG: 16.44), Gilles Schock (Season PPG: 16.60) and Muratovic (Season PPG: 15.67) carrying the comeback. At 67-71, Lou Dos Santos committed two fouls in a row and Esch sealed the game at the line through Euricky Semedo Da Veiga (Season PPG: 10.63).
Top scorers were Ben Schock with 23, Muratovic with 18 and Gilles Schock with 14 for Etzella. Esch had balanced production: Semedo Da Veiga and Blettery scored 15 each, Faisal Abdirizak Mohamed added 12, and Miguel plus Maël Gevrey finished with 10 apiece.
(AI generated)