Racing Luxembourg turned a shaky start into a convincing 99-84 home win over Black Star Mersch in MU18 Division 2. After trailing 23-29 at the first break, coach Hristo Stoykov's team flipped the game with a 35-19 second quarter. A 10-0 burst from 34-37 to 44-37 set the tone, and a quick five-point sequence by the 17-year-old Bulgarian guard Stefan Stoykov pushed the gap to 49-41 before halftime (58-48).
Black Star, guided by coach Hansen, answered after the interval, edging the third period 20-18 and trimming the margin to 76-68. Racing opened the fourth with a 6-1 spurt and never let the visitors closer, stretching the advantage to a game-high +18 at 99-81.
Shot-making defined the night: both sides hit 29 two-pointers, but Racing added 14 free throws and 9 threes against 8 and 6 for Black Star. Stoykov (Season PPG: 20.8) authored a standout 37 points built on 10 free throws, 9 twos and 3 threes. Support came from Yair Portal Levav (15; Season PPG: 11.67), Pete Rajniak (13; Season PPG: 11.14) and John Berhane Litt (13, BEL). Louis Cocard (9; Season PPG: 12.4) added timely scoring. Portal navigated foul trouble but stayed on the floor to help close it out.
For Black Star, Sam Tibold (32; Season PPG: 23.8) carried the offense with 4 free throws, 11 twos and 2 threes. Trey Sean Boayue (15; Season PPG: 23.2) and Rui Dias dos Santos (17; Season PPG: 10.4) contributed, while Raphael Solomon (9; Season PPG: 8.2) and Mike Goehlhausen (5) chipped in.
Racing, now 5-0, climbs to 1st place and extends its winning streak to five. Black Star sits 5th at 1-4 after dropping four of its last five.
(AI generated)