Basket Esch, now 2nd after a gain of two places, edged Black Star Mersch 82-78 in a close Phase finale game. Mersch, now 5th, had the better first half, but Esch changed the rhythm after the break and then survived the late push.
Esch started sharply at 6-0, with early impact from 17-year-old 2.00m Emmanuel Jesus Frederico (Season PPG: 14.07). BSM recovered quickly and the first quarter closed at 21-21. In the second, Mersch found more continuity: from 31-31, they went on a 6-0 run and reached halftime in front 39-34. Sam Tibold (Season PPG: 25.60) was central in that stretch, and coach Dejan Pavlovic also received a technical foul before the break.
The turning point came straight after halftime. Esch went from 34-39 down to 53-41 up, a 19-2 sequence, including 12 unanswered points from 41-41 to 53-41. Noah Kouamedjouo (Season PPG: 10.40) drove that surge, with support from Melvin Pereira Furtado (Season PPG: 7.47), Kyan Braunshausen (Season PPG: 5.69) and Amar Feratovic (Season PPG: 4.00). Esch won the third quarter 25-12 and later built its biggest lead at 75-62.
BSM still stayed in contact. Rui Dias Dos Santos and Raphael Solomon brought outside scoring, Mike Göhlhausen (Season PPG: 10.36) cut the gap further, and Alvyn Madoki Bigas finished the game with 5 straight points for Mersch. Esch still had enough through Kouamedjouo's 24 points and Chahine Bel Mokhtar (Season PPG: 8.00), who added 12 despite major foul trouble.
Tibold finished with 25 for BSM, ahead of Boayue's 15 and Göhlhausen's 11. For Esch, Kouamedjouo led the way, followed by Bel Mokhtar 12, Jamie Zuang (Season PPG: 8.63) 11 and Braunshausen 10. The last quarter was also marked by foul issues: Bel Mokhtar and Zuang fouled out for Esch, Boayue fouled out for Mersch, and Leandro Da Silva Nunes was disqualified in the fourth quarter.
(AI generated)