Sparta Bertrange B overpowered BC Mess B 86-43 in the Coupe FLBB 1/8 finals in Mondercange. Mess opened brightly (6-3) after early triples from Damien Michels and Yorick Melchior, but Sparta answered with an 8-0 burst to 6-11 and controlled the first quarter 15-22. The visitors' perimeter kept biting in the second: Max Hagen's long-range barrage, plus scores from Pol Schwartz and Louis Evrard, pushed the gap to 20-34 before Mess trimmed it to 28-36 at halftime.
The game broke open right after the break. Sparta strung together a decisive 14-0 run from 31-44 to 31-58, forcing time-outs from Mess, and won the third quarter 32-10 (38-68). In the fourth, Mess briefly reached 41-68, but Sparta added more outside makes and stretched the night's largest lead to 43 at the buzzer.
Hagen (19, 1.89m) was the headline act with 35 points and 11 three-pointers, repeatedly punishing close-outs before and after halftime. He had strong support from Peter-James Dobbin Vieira (14), Schwartz (11) and Mathieu Verharen Wuerth (18, 2.00m) with 11; Tom Alesch (7) contributed a five-point burst in the third, and Evrard (20, 1.99m) added 8.
For Mess, André Cristostomo Ribeiro (17, PRT) led with 10, Michels (9) hit three triples, François Villain (9) worked inside and drew contact, Melchior scored 8, while captain-coach Gilles Weimerskirch supplied 5 and early free throws; Daniel Carvalho Cardoso added 2. Villain accumulated four fouls but stayed on court.
Key swings: Sparta's 8-0 answer in the first quarter flipped the early 6-3 deficit, and the 14-0 surge in the third decided the tie. Coach Elton Jorge Ferreira's rotation kept the pace and spacing, while Weimerskirch's side could not stem the third-quarter run despite time-outs.
(AI generated)