Leuven Bears controlled their friendly at Atert/Central, beating Sparta Bertrange 86-63 after setting the tone early. Rogiers (LEB) scored the visitors' first six points and a quick 8-0 stretch made it 2-10. Sparta briefly closed to 17-20 as Philippe Arendt (27, 1.85m) hit a three to open Q2, but Leuven answered with a 7-0 run. A brief sequence with two quick fouls on Yannick Verbeelen (26, 1.91m) and an unsportsmanlike on Max Logelin (22, 1.87m) didn't help Sparta's momentum, and halftime arrived at 27-44.
Sparta reacted after the break behind Jarvis Terrill Williams (35, 1.98m, USA), who poured in 12 points in the third, including back-to-back triples to trim it to 43-51. Blackmon (LEB) steadied the Bears with five late points to keep a 50-60 cushion entering Q4.
Leuven then pulled away with perimeter firepower: six fourth-quarter threes (Schauvlieger x2, Blackmon x2, Vanderstraeten, Bucumi) stretched the gap to a game-high 25 before the final buzzer. Coach Kristof Michiels' group repeatedly answered Sparta's pushes; coach Karl Abou Khalil burned timeouts to halt runs but the visitors' depth proved decisive.
Top scorers: for Leuven, Anderson (LEB) 17, Rogiers (LEB) 14, Blackmon (LEB) 14, Vanderstraeten (LEB) 13, Talforf (LEB) 11. For Sparta, Williams (35, 1.98m, USA) 21, Logelin (22, 1.87m) 13, Gregory Lydell Mays (32) 9, Arendt 6, Victor Stein (28, 1.90m) 5, Lennart Holsten (29, 2.07m, DEU) 4.
(AI generated)