Racing Luxembourg controlled the second half and beat Résidence Walferdange 96-66 in this M-U14 Division 2 Phase 1 game. Racing, coached by Uros Niksic, improved to 4-1 and moved up one place to 1st. Résidence, coached by Steve Alexandre, stayed 6th and is now on a five-game losing streak, while Racing has won three in a row.
The start was competitive. Racing opened an 11-4 lead, with Henrik Alfred Piirsalu (Season PPG: 16.40) and Linas Malaise (Season PPG: 4.40) active early, but Résidence answered through Stefans Grandovskis (13) and Joaquym Branyan Questier (Season PPG: 19.80) to stay close at 20-15 after one quarter.
The gap never became large before the break. Racing went up 24-15 and later 28-19, yet Résidence kept scoring inside and reduced the margin several times. Grandovskis and Questier carried most of that work, and at halftime the game was still open at 39-31.
The decisive stretch came in the third quarter. After 41-33, Gabriel Guillen (Season PPG: 15.80), also 13 years old, went on a personal roll and scored 11 points in a row for Racing, pushing the score to 52-33. Résidence tried to react after a timeout and cut it to 54-40, but Racing answered again with Piirsalu, Guillen and Nikita Yannick Philippe Lamidiaux (Season PPG: 6.60). The quarter ended 74-52.
In the last period, Levi Balde (Season PPG: 21.00) punished every opening and scored 12 points in a strong closing sequence. Racing's highest lead reached 36 points at 94-58 before the final 30-point margin.
Top scorers were Guillen with 27, Balde with 24 and Piirsalu with 18 for Racing; Grandovskis had 26 and Questier 25 for Résidence.
(AI generated)