On Sunday, Luxembourg played on the road in Azerbaijan for the second game in the 2029 Eurobasket pre-qualifiers.
After a spectacular victory over Ireland to start the competition on Thursday , Luxembourg earned the second straight victory beating Azerbaijan 95:90.
Philippe Gutenkauf scored 16 points in the first 7 minutes of the game as Luxembourg jumped out to a 23:9 lead. The FLBB team stayed hot from behind the arc, nailed down 9 threes in the first 20 minutes to enter half-time with a 57:44 lead.
Luxembourg dontinued a dominating performance after the break and extended the lead to over 20 points. Azerbaijan managed to cut into the lead late in the game while Luxembourg struggled offensively in the fourth quarter but the FLBB squad finally won the game. Ben Kovac had another strong scoring game with 29 points while Clancy Rugg, Philippe Gutenkauf and Oliver Vujakovic added double digit scoring for the guests.
Game stats –> game stats
Head coach Ken Diederich: „It was a difficult journey to get to Azerbaijan and we had to be ready for the game with the time change and everything around so it was obvious that the challenge ahead was a difficult one. We played extremely well for 3 quarters, then lost our rhythm in the fourth quarter while the opponent made every shot including 3-pointers off the backboard. However, they never had a chance to tie the game or take the lead because we made our free throws. It is the first time that our national team starts a campaign 2:0, that’s why we can be satisfied with the results so far. »
Results and upcoming games:
Luxembourg – Ireland 89:77
Azerbaijan – Luxembourg 90:95
February 27: North Macedonia – Luxembourg
March 2: Ireland – Luxembourg
July 2: Luxembourg – Azerbaijan
July 5: Luxembourg – North Macedonia
Other results in group A:
North Macedonia – Azerbaijan 87:49
Ireland – North Macedonia (game still running)
RTL.LU –> Lëtzebuerger Häre klappen Aserbaidjan a wannen zweete Match noeneen
Wort.lu –> „Wirklich sensationell“: Ben Kovac führt Luxemburg zum nächsten Sieg
Tageblatt.lu –> Luxemburg gewinnt nach hartem Fight in Aserbaidschan und holt zweiten Sieg
