Basket Esch left Dudelange with a 65-54 win in the Phase finale round-robin, their third victory over T71 this season after 84-70 and 75-59. The visitors controlled the start (18-11 after Q1) behind steady trips to the line from Paul Blettery and early touches for Ihsane Adam Moulai-Souiga and Euricky Semedo da Veiga. T71 head coach Yves Marchi used two timeouts in the second quarter to settle his side, and Finn Dondelinger's five quick points (a two and a three) helped trim the gap to 26-29 at halftime.
Esch made the decisive first break coming out of the locker room: a 7-0 burst (Maël Gevrey, a Semedo three, Blettery) pushed the lead to double digits and later to the game's largest margin at +14 (28-42). The third quarter also saw a flare-up with a Gevrey technical and an unsportsmanlike on Max Schartz, but Esch still led 48-39 after 30 minutes.
T71 then surged. Wirion, Dondelinger, Schartz and Jamie Papa Müller fueled an 11-0 run to flip it to 50-48 for the hosts. Vincent Gevrey's team answered immediately: Edmilson Miguel restored the lead, Moulai-Souiga buried a key three, and Blettery plus Gevrey added nine more to complete a 17-4 closing stretch.
Top performers
- Basket Esch: Blettery (20 pts; Season PPG: 14.08) carried the offense and closed it late; Gevrey (14 pts; Season PPG: 12.58) added a crucial fourth-quarter three; Semedo da Veiga (11 pts; Season PPG: 10.42, 14 years, PRT) and Moulai-Souiga (10 pts; Season PPG: 3.80) provided timely scoring.
- T71 Dudelange: Tunn Wirion (20 pts; Season PPG: 16.25) led the response; Schartz (11 pts; Season PPG: 10.45) and Papa Müller (9 pts; Season PPG: 7.95) supported, with Dondelinger (8 pts; Season PPG: 9.82) sparking the second-quarter push.
Esch's composure in the final minutes proved decisive. In the standings, Basket Esch move up to 2nd (+2), while T71 remain 5th and drop to 0-2 in the Phase finale.
(AI generated)