Etzella Ettelbruck overpowered Sparta Bertrange 97-41 in the M-U22 Qualifications at atert/terrain2, controlling every quarter and never allowing the hosts a way back. The visitors set the tone with a 20-9 first period, then blew the game open before halftime: an 8-0 burst to 35-13 and a later 9-0 surge sent them to the locker room up 50-22. Etzella kept the pressure after the break and closed the third at 71-33, before finishing with a 17-0 run in the fourth to seal a 56-point margin, their largest lead.
Etzella's backcourt carried the scoring load. Miguel Angelo Domingos Sanches (38 pts; 20 years, 1.80m, PRT) scored from everywhere, including four makes from deep, and Lou Clees (29 pts; 18, 1.89m) drilled five triples while navigating a couple of whistles in the second quarter. Support came from Lenny Lopes Morais (8), Marvin Delgado dos Santos (6) and Charel Wilmes (5). Coach Gavin Alexander Love's group repeatedly strung stops into quick points and won the key runs in each quarter.
Sparta's best responses came from Mathieu (SPA) with 12, Nikolaos Papanikolaou with 11 and captain Tom Germeaux (10; 20, 1.99m). Germeaux strung together four straight free throws across the late third and early fourth, but Sparta never sustained momentum. Early fouls on Pierre Rodrigues and an unsportsmanlike on James Patrick Murray in the third hurt their rhythm. Coach Karl Abou Khalil used his timeouts to halt Etzella's spurts, yet the visitors kept finding answers.
In the standings, Etzella jump straight to 1st place (+8), while Sparta sit 8th with a 0-2 start. Etzella open their campaign with a win; Sparta are on back-to-back losses.
(AI generated)