Racing Luxembourg B edged Mambra Mamer B 54-46 in a tense M-U14 Division 5 Phase 2 game at tramsschap/central. The hosts burst out 24-19 after the first quarter, but Mamer tightened up in the second (5-9) to trim it to 29-28 at halftime. Right after the break, captain Ayoub Saoudaoui (16 pts, 13 years old) briefly put Mamer ahead 29-31 with a three, but Racing replied with a decisive third-quarter surge (23-12), building the highest lead at 52-38 before managing the finish.
Henrik Alfred Piirsalu (21 pts; Season PPG: 12.54), 12, FIN, powered Racing with repeated finishes inside, including back-to-back baskets that stretched the gap to 44-36, and later 48-36. He had scoring help from Akseli Heikki Virkkunen (8 pts; Season PPG: 5.44), Jean Georges Pongas (8 pts; Season PPG: 6.00), and late contributions by Henry August Martens (4 pts) to close the third at 52-40. Notably, Racing scored only 2 points in the fourth but protected the margin.
For Mamer, Saoudaoui hit two threes (one to open the third), while Pierre Frieden (13 pts, 12 years old) was steady, adding five points from the line. Manraj Singh Virdee (9 pts) produced a personal run late in the fourth (FT, 2, FT) to bring Mamer within two possessions at 54-46, but no further. Quentin Faltz and Sophie Contreras added 2 each; Pharrell André Demougin and Konstantinos Nastos also scored.
Key swings:
- Mamer's 0-1-2 free-throw sequence by Virdee in Q3 initially nudged them ahead, but Racing answered with a 6-0 burst to flip 31-32 into 37-32.
- From 39-36, Piirsalu strung together consecutive baskets; Racing closed Q3 on a 13-4 run.
Under coach Christian Frick, Racing showed composure after halftime. Paul Jacque's Mamer fought back late but dropped to 0-4 and remain fifth. Racing stay third at 3-1, level on classification points with the top two.
(AI generated)