Basket Esch B won a close one in Larochette, 91-89, and took revenge after losing the first two meetings with Arantia Larochette this season. It was also an important reaction for Damien Thill's team after six straight defeats. LALB climbed one place to 5th in the Phase finale table, while ARA dropped to 6th.
Arantia recovered well from an early 11-4 deficit. Pit Hoffmann's side changed the rhythm with better balance in transition and a 17-9 finish to the first quarter for a 21-20 lead. The second period stayed very even: Esch created small gaps, Larochette answered each time, and the game reached halftime at 45-45.
The biggest shift came in the third quarter. Berin Hajdarpasic (Season PPG: 12.18) took over with 16 points in that period alone and drove Basket Esch B to its biggest lead, 72-62. Arantia stayed alive through Rui Carlos Silva (Season PPG: 16.17), Sam Gölhausen (Season PPG: 13.21) and Jules Schalbar (Season PPG: 9.54), but LALB had the stronger scoring burst.
The fourth quarter changed again. ARA came back from 74-69 down, tied at 76-76 and moved in front 81-78. That looked like a turning point, but Esch answered with the decisive run: from 81-78, LALB scored 13 of the next 15 points to go up 91-83. Arantia then finished with six unanswered points, which made the ending very tight.
Hajdarpasic finished with a game-high 37. He had strong support from 14-year-old French player Yanis Jacques Enzo Allou N'Da (Season PPG: 8.60) with 23 and Alim Durovic (Season PPG: 13.18) with 16. For ARA, Silva scored 24, Gölhausen added 18, Jang Hoffmann (Season PPG: 5.57) had 12, and 14-year-old Portuguese Tiago Matos Simoes (Season PPG: 5.67) contributed 10.
(AI generated)