BBC East Side Pirates took a 82-65 road win at Steinsel and moved up one place to 4th in the M-U16 Division 2 phase finale, while Amicale Steesel stayed 6th and winless after five games.
The opening was competitive. Amicale, coached by Thorsten Freiheit, went in front 6-3 with early baskets from 15-year-old Belgian Andreas Nys (Season PPG: 14.57) and Vincent Segers (Season PPG: 15.46). BEP answered quickly and closed the first quarter better, with captain Sam Schaeffer (Season PPG: 25.47) already taking control of the offense for an 16-11 lead.
Amicale stayed close in the second period. They reduced the gap to 25-29 after scores from Bobby Kirsch (Season PPG: 14.69) and Miguel Lopez Fernandez, the 14-year-old Spanish captain (Season PPG: 7.36). The key sequence came late in the half: BEP finished with a 6-2 stretch and reached 35-27, helped by free throws and Amicale foul trouble around Segers, Lopez Fernandez and Max Schanck.
The game broke open in the third quarter. After Nys had trimmed it to 38-44, coach Thomas Diederich's team produced the decisive run: 15 unanswered points for a 59-38 advantage. Schaeffer, Emil Denter (Season PPG: 8.80) and Maks Danielyan (Season PPG: 2.20) were all involved in that burst. From there, BEP controlled the rhythm.
Amicale did show resistance in the last quarter. Nys scored his team's first 8 points of the period in a row and finished with 23 points, ahead of Segers (14) and Kirsch (12). But each time the hosts tried to build momentum, Schaeffer answered. He poured in 37 points, including a strong finishing quarter, with support from Denter (12), Sean Harmelin-Dostert (Season PPG: 2.00) with 10, and Dany Toth Gomes (Season PPG: 5.64) with 9.
BEP's highest lead reached 21 points, and they also confirmed their edge over Amicale after the earlier 57-49 win between the same teams this season.
(AI generated)