M-Coupe de l'Avenir, 1/8 finales, holleschb2/terrain 2: Basket Esch overpowered Telstar Hesperange 103-34, deciding the tie long before the break.
After Telstar tied it 2-2, Esch uncorked a 12-0 run built on quick inside finishes from Paul Blettery (15, FRA) and Mael Gevrey (15, FRA), then added a 10-0 burst to close the first quarter 33-8. Telstar briefly stemmed the tide at 12-35 early in the second, but Esch answered with a decisive 22-0 run to reach halftime at 57-12. The pattern held after the interval; Esch won the third 24-7 to enter the last stretch up 81-19. Telstar's best spell came at the start of the fourth with a 6-0 mini-run, but Alexandre Kremer (15) replied with a personal surge of 9 points in a short span, and the visitors cruised to their largest lead at the buzzer, plus-69.
Esch's scoring depth told: Kremer led with 26 points, Gevrey added 18, Blettery 16, Bastien Roger (15, FRA) 12 and Edmilson Vieira Miguel (14, FRA) 11. In all, 10 different players scored. As a team, Esch converted 43 two-point field goals, 4 threes and 5 free throws. Coach Stephane Feller's group controlled the pace early and never let go.
Telstar's offense was paced by captain Gabriel Marques dos Ramos (15, PRT) with 13 points, backed by Mathis Adehm (14) with 6. Arthur Eugen Beltechi (14, FRA) and Jules Marc Jean Andre (14) chipped in 4 each, while Axel Hosten (14, FRA) hit a three. Telstar totaled 14 made twos and 2 threes.
Coach Agada Uchenna Ohpani tried to halt Esch's early momentum with timeouts in the first period, but the visitors' long scoring runs in Q1 and especially the 22-0 in Q2 defined the game's evolution.
(AI generated)