Sparta Bertrange beat BC Mess 79-68 at nikibett/central in the M-U14 Division 1 Phase 2 round-robin. Quarter scores: 17-14, 23-15, 19-25, 20-14. The result moves Sparta to 4-0 and 1st place (ranking gain +1), while Mess drops to 3-1 and 2nd (1). It's Sparta's eighth straight win; Mess sees a seven-game winning run halted. Sparta also won the first meeting this season (90-51, Phase 1).
A balanced first quarter gave way to a dominant second period from Sparta, driven by captain Petar Kulisic (37 pts; Season PPG: 27.88). He strung together six points in a row early in Q2 and kept piling on, including a three, as Sparta built a highest lead of +15 (38-23) and reached halftime up 40-29.
Mess answered after the break. Fabio Freymann (19; Season PPG: 18.78), Nils Müller (18; Season PPG: 19.22) and Noa Priso Dikoume (19; Season PPG: 15.00) led a 3rd-quarter surge to 59-54. Early in the 4th, Mess completed the comeback for a 63-60 edge. Then Sparta, guided by coach Yann Ewert, flipped the game with a decisive 19-0 run: Anton Mercier (10; Season PPG: 11.86, 13, FRA), Alexander Möller (9; Season PPG: 13.50, 13, SWE), Filip Schumacher (10; Season PPG: 13.00) and Kulisic combined to turn 60-63 into 79-63. Mess closed with five late points, but the damage was done.
For Sparta, Kulisic dominated the paint all night, with support from Rafael Ferreira (9; Season PPG: 18.56), Möller and Schumacher, who produced eight important points in the final period. For Mess, the trio Priso-Freymann-Müller combined for 56 of 68. Both benches managed foul trouble without a foul-out (Kulisic and Mercier on four; Freymann and Eli Nosbusch on four). Coach Fernand Musquar's side had the momentum early in the fourth, but Sparta's streak-scoring response settled the top-of-table clash.
(AI generated)