Fourth-ranked T71 Dudelange took a very close 68-66 home win over eighth-ranked Sparta Bertrange and completed a 2-0 season sweep after the earlier 95-78 road victory. T71 also stopped a two-game losing run, while Sparta is now on three straight defeats.
The game turned sharply over its four quarters. Sparta edged the first period 10-9, then took real control before the break. Behind Max Hagen (Season PPG: 18.17), Louis Evrard (Season PPG: 16.20) and Ari Marinosson (16, ISL), Sparta won the second quarter 21-12 and led 31-21 at halftime. The visitors kept the momentum in the third and built the biggest gap of the evening at 50-31, with Hagen scoring in bursts and Evrard stretching the floor.
T71 stayed alive through Uros Malesevic (Season PPG: 21.71), who finished with 20 points, and reduced the damage to 58-46 after three quarters. The fourth quarter changed the game. Coach Laurent Schmitz's side opened it with an 8-0 run to get back to 58-54, then kept the pressure on. After Hagen hit a big three for 64-59, T71 answered again: Lenn Dondelinger scored inside and from deep to tie at 64-64, Justin Lux added key free throws, and after Marinosson tied it at 66-66, Lux and Len Guedes provided the last two points.
For Sparta, Hagen had 19, Evrard 16 and Marinosson 14, but the foul trouble of Marinosson and Felix Roilgen (21, 1.88m) in the closing stretch mattered. For T71, Dondelinger added 13, Rafael Costa Farinha 8 and Nils Schroeder 7 behind Malesevic's leading role.
(AI generated)