US Heffingen took this close Phase finale game 46-40 and moved up to 2nd place (+2), while Sparta Bertrange C slipped to 3rd (-1). It was also Sparta's third straight defeat.
The game was decided by Heffingen's first-half control. After an 8-8 start, the home side produced a 12-1 run to close the first quarter at 20-9. Andrej Gruskovnjak's team kept the pressure high in the second period: from 24-13, Heffingen added 10 unanswered points and reached the break at 34-13. The highest lead was 21 points.
The game changed after halftime. Sparta came out much sharper and won the third quarter 17-6. From 36-13, Frédéric François's side answered with a strong 17-2 spell across the period to get back to 38-30. That run put the game back in play.
Heffingen still found the key baskets in the last quarter. Diego Vaz Pereira (Season PPG: 11.83) opened the period for 42-30, and when Sparta got as close as 44-40, Michael Hostert (Season PPG: 3.40) and then Mett Dostert (Season PPG: 9.79) supplied the late points that secured the win.
For Heffingen, Vaz Pereira led with 17 points, including 7 points in a row for his team across the third and fourth quarters. Dostert added 14, and captain Deivys Almeida Monteiro (Season PPG: 8.92) scored 8.
For Sparta, Francesco Morpurgo (Season PPG: 8.82) finished with 14 and was the main inside scorer in the comeback, while 14-year-old Ramoni Albiol Sanchez (Season PPG: 14.44) added 12. Heffingen have now beaten Sparta twice in the Phase finale after Sparta had won the first two meetings earlier in the season.
(AI generated)