The play-in games were played on Wednesday in the men’s Total League. The better seeded teams in the regular season, T71 and Basket Esch qualified for the semi-finals. Whilt T71 was too strong for Arantia, Esch won a very close game.
T71 – Arantia 106:64
– Duane Johnson missed the game for Arantia, Mike Jones made his comeback for the team!
– Schumacher scored 14 points in the first quarter, his team jumped out to a quick lead and never looked back in this game
– T71 was in full control at any moment and this game was decided early
– Harris scored 26 points, including some monster dunks (vidoe will follow)
– Ivey had 25 points and 9 assists, Schumacher and Muller added 19 and 15 points
– Sturdivant (19 points) was the only Arantia-player with more than 7 points
– After a good regular season, the season ends for Arantia
Basket Esch – Contern 100:90
– Jackson-Cartwright and Rugg (31 combined points in the first half) took over responsibility from the start and Esch led by 7 points at the break
– Esch had a strong third quarter run to build a double digit lead and thhe hosts had that lead with 3 minutes remaining when suddenly, Contern stormed back into the game (88:92 with 2 minutes remaining)
– Esch had the better finsih, Fonseca hit a clutch basket with 50 seconds remaining and the champs were able to win the game
– 4 Esch-players scored 10+ points, Rugg (29) and Jackson-Cartwright (27) were the main scorers.
– Frink and Shahid did most of the scoring for Contern (61 points combined)
– After a good regular season, the season ends for AB Contern
The semi-finals will start on Sunday! Etzella will face Basket Esch and Résidence will face T71 in a best-of-3-series, the first games will be played in Ettelbruck and Walferdange.
Picture: Basket Esch
T71 published an interview with Frank Muller after the game, he also says what it means to him to be the FLBB’s JICL MVP this season:
