Fifth-ranked Racing Luxembourg beat second-ranked Basket Esch 78-67 and moved up one place in the classification. It was also a strong response to the first meeting, which Esch had won 86-56.
The game was balanced early. Esch turned a 2-0 deficit into a 6-2 lead, but Racing answered with an 11-3 run and closed the first quarter in front, 13-12. The home side created the first real separation in the second period. After 30-24, baskets from Roby Sahr, Nikita Lamidiaux and Jean Georges Pongas helped Racing extend the margin to 39-28. Basket Esch reacted well before the break, with Lorenzo Vetro scoring 5 points in a row to trim it to 39-33.
The decisive phase came in the third quarter. Christian Nittler's team pushed the lead to 50-36, and although Basket Esch came back to 54-50, Racing finished the period on a 10-3 burst for 64-53. The biggest lead of the game was 14 points at 52-38. In the last quarter Esch kept competing, but never came closer than seven points.
Elhadj Ibrahima Diallo, a 13-year-old Portuguese player, led Racing with 24 points (Season PPG: 22.07). Francesco Ratti, the 13-year-old Italian captain (Season PPG: 6.71), added 13 with an important third quarter, and Levi Balde (Season PPG: 9.58) also scored 13.
For Raouf Riahi's side, Lorenzo Vetro (Season PPG: 10.74) finished with 14 points, Lyan Gomes da Cruz (Season PPG: 8.56) had 12, and captain Arthur Léo Pierre Colle (Season PPG: 12.89) scored 11. Colle and Vetro both fouled out late, which hurt Esch's comeback effort. Basket Esch are now on a two-game losing streak after a seven-game winning run.
(AI generated)