Etzella Ettelbruck outlasted Arantia Larochette 69-60 in the Phase finale round-robin at deichwisen/central, riding a powerful start and a decisive final quarter. Etzella opened 23-12 after 10 minutes, with early baskets from Lenn Dos Santos (Season PPG: 8.18), captain Lenny Weber (Season PPG: 13.82) and a dominant paint presence from Mustafa Yakta Inal (Season PPG: 14.33). The lead peaked at +15 (23-8).
Arantia reacted well in the second period (11-19) behind Rui Carlos Silva (Season PPG: 14.50), Jules Schalbar (Season PPG: 12.57) and Ben Welter (Season PPG: 10.50), trimming it to 34-31 at the half. The third quarter was balanced (10-10); Coach Pit Hoffmann's team came as close as 42-41 after Welter and Silva scored in succession.
The key stretch arrived to start the fourth: Coach Dragana Zoric's group delivered a 10-0 run to 54-41, with Weber, Inal and Oldakowski (ETZ) pushing the gap back to double digits. Arantia still threatened Finn Brosius (Season PPG: 11.64) strung together three straight baskets for a personal 6-0 surge to 64-58, then added another to make it 66-60 but Etzella answered through Weber and Inal to close it out.
Top performers
- Etzella: Inal (21 points), Weber (17), Dos Santos (13) and 12-year-old Lourenço Fonseca Nunes (Season PPG: 3.20) with timely free throws. Inal (13, TUR) managed four fouls by late third quarter yet remained impactful in the fourth.
- Arantia: Silva (21, including the team's lone triple), Brosius (14, leading the late charge), Welter (10) and Schalbar (9), who picked up a string of fouls in the final period.
Etzella's win halts Arantia's long winning run (10 straight) and helps ETZ bounce back after two defeats. In the updated table, Etzella jump to first place (+5), with Arantia in second; both stand at 1-1 in this Phase finale.
(AI generated)