Sparta Bertrange edged Etzella Ettelbruck 71-68 after overtime in a very tight Phase finale game.
The game started with a clear Sparta push. After Etzella opened through Gilles Schock (Season PPG: 15.89), Sparta answered with a 17-2 spell and closed the first quarter 19-6. Their lead even reached 21-6 early in the second period, the biggest gap of the night.
Etzella reacted well under coach Thierry Kremer. From 13-28, the home side produced an 11-0 run, with Lou Dos Santos, Gilles Schock and Seid Muratovic, a 14-year-old from Montenegro, changing the rhythm. Sparta still led 30-24 at halftime, but the momentum had shifted.
The third quarter brought Etzella fully back. Muratovic (Season PPG: 16.43) and Ben Schock (Season PPG: 16.32) kept scoring, and Etzella finally levelled at 32-32 before staying within one possession. In the fourth, the game became a possession-by-possession battle. Jahleeon Rocha Carvalho hit a key three, Gilles Schock added another, and Ben Schock tied it at 58-58 and later 60-60.
In overtime, Etzella seemed close to taking it. Muratovic scored 6 of his team's 8 overtime points and pushed ETZ in front 68-62. Sparta answered through Thandizo Jon Zulu (Season PPG: 20.37), then closed with the decisive three from Maximilaan Flechtner (Season PPG: 17.39).
Zulu led Sparta with 25 points, Flechtner added 12 and Hugo Dubois, the 15-year-old Belgian guard, had 8. For Etzella, Muratovic finished with 18, Gilles Schock 17 and Ben Schock 15. Dos Santos fouled out after heavy foul trouble, which mattered in the closing stretch.
(AI generated)