North Fox took a 90-77 home win over AS Soleuvre in the M-U18 Division 3 final phase and answered the 73-96 defeat from the first meeting. Charel Linden's team also stopped a two-game losing streak. After the round, Soleuvre stands 3rd and North Fox 5th, with both teams gaining one place.
The game was tight early. Soleuvre built a 24-17 edge late in the first quarter behind Lex Lahure and Rafael Aguiar Sousa, but Fox closed the period with 7 straight points to level at 24-24. Dzenan Muratovic (Season PPG: 21.75) had already given the hosts a strong start by scoring Fox's first 6 points.
Fox began to control the game in the second quarter. After 32-32, the home side finished the half on a 15-9 spell to lead 47-41. Muratovic and Nils Rob, the 17-year-old 1.90m forward, were central in that phase.
Soleuvre reacted well after the break, cutting the margin to 47-45 and then 51-50. That stretch was decisive: Marvin Carvalho (Season PPG: 10.00) produced 6 Fox points in a row, and Raphael Nkoa (Season PPG: 15.92), a 17-year-old 1.81m guard/forward from Cameroon, kept the pressure on as Fox moved out to 61-50 and then 73-59 at the end of the third.
Soleuvre still pushed in the fourth, trimming the score to 73-63 and later 84-73, with Lahure (Season PPG: 17.78) finishing with 33 points and Pol Diedenhofen (Season PPG: 13.89) adding 22. Fox stayed in front, reached its highest lead at 84-67, and closed behind Muratovic's 24, Rob's 19, Nkoa's 19 and Carvalho's 12. Yannick Johanns added 12 before fouling out.
(AI generated)