First-ranked Musel Pikes beat third-ranked Gréngewald Hueschtert 81-78 in a tight Phase finale game and stayed perfect at 8-0, extending their winning streak to eight. GRE dropped to 4-4.
Game evolution was clear in swings. Musel led 21-17 after the first quarter, helped by an 8-0 burst from 8-9 to 16-9. Gréngewald answered well in the second period and turned the game around before the break, moving in front 41-40. The visitors were driven there by Pol Elcheroth (Season PPG: 22.50) and 15-year-old Dutch scorer Mats Genevaro Van den Biezenbos (Season PPG: 21.35).
The decisive stretch came in the third quarter. Musel went from 48-47 to 57-47 with 9 unanswered points and built a 63-54 lead at the end of the period, their joint highest cushion of the night. Daniel Fernandes Sousa's team had balanced production there: Jaden El Basri (Season PPG: 18.35) finished with 21, Raphaël Siebenaler (Season PPG: 17.31) added 18, Ben Matthias Schenk (Season PPG: 19.65) scored 17, and Marvin Contreras (Season PPG: 13.42) had 15.
Gréngewald still pushed the game to the limit. Elcheroth erupted for 14 points in the fourth quarter and brought GRE back from 68-59 to 78-77, then 80-78. In the last minute, late foul trouble, including an unsportsmanlike foul on Sebastiao Fernandes Goncalves, gave Musel a small opening, and they held it. Elcheroth finished with a game-high 32, Van den Biezenbos had 20, and Mika Kirchen (Season PPG: 10.61) contributed 15. Musel also completed a 2-0 season sweep against GRE.
(AI generated)