T71 Dudelange beat Amicale Steesel 80-64 and climbed to 1st place in the qualifying round, a gain of seven spots. Amicale is now 3rd, up three places. T71 has now won three in a row, while Amicale dropped a second straight game.
The game turned quickly with a 9-0 home start. Amicale settled through Conley Leroy Phipps III (Season PPG: 24.2, RPG: 5.67, AssPG: 2.83), who kept his team alive early and helped cut the gap to 23-22 in the second quarter after scoring 9 points in that stretch. T71 answered with an 10-0 push to 33-22, then closed the half at 46-34.
The third quarter gave T71 real control. After Amicale came back to 50-39, Finn Reisdorffer (Season PPG: 8.2, RPG: 6.43, AssPG: 0.57) scored 7 points in a row for his team's 57-41 margin. Later, after Phipps had trimmed it to 64-45, T71 added 4 straight points and entered the last period up 68-49. Amicale opened the fourth on a 7-0 run to 68-56, but never got closer.
Domenick Sleva, the game MVP, led T71 with 20 points and 9 rebounds (Season PPG: 18.2, RPG: 9.8, AssPG: 1.2). Jimmie Lee Taylor III added 21 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists (Season PPG: 25.4, RPG: 4.86, AssPG: 3.71). Captain Christopher Jack finished with 13 points on very efficient shooting, including 2/4 from three and 3/3 at the line.
For Amicale, Phipps scored 31 points but needed heavy volume (10/26 on 2-pointers, 3/11 on 3-pointers). Maid Adrovic (Season PPG: 9.0, RPG: 5.67, AssPG: 0.5) added 12 points and 6 rebounds, and Gonzalo Munoz Scharfenberg (28, 1.98m, ESP) gave useful minutes off the bench.
T71 shot well under FIBA conditions: 79% on free throws and 57% on 2-pointers, both good marks. Amicale stayed below that level at 63% from the line, 34% on 2-pointers and 27% from three. The rebounding balance also favored T71, 46-29.
(AI generated)