The first game of the men’s finals 2020/21 was played on Tuesday-evening. T71 won game 1 of the « best-of-3 »-series at home and has a chance to win the title on Friday in Esch.
T71 – Basket Esch 80:71
– Schumacher hit 3 « 3s » in the first quarter, T71 led 18:15 after 10 minutes
– T71 was on fire to start the second quarter and took an 11-point-lead (32:21), coach Lautié had to react with a time-out
– Esch had trouble to score against a T71-defense that was able to close the paint, Dudelange left Rodenbourg open at the 3-point-line and his defender stayed under the baskets
– T71 had a 38:31 lead at the break
– Harris started the second half with 2 big dunks and a deep 3-pointer, T71 increased its lead to 15 points! T71 played very strong collective offense and had a 64:51 lead after 3 quarters, Kovac hit a buzzer beater (video) to reduce the deficit for Esch entering the final quarter
– Esch made a run to start the final quarter and suddenly T71’s lead was reduced to 7 points with 6 minutes remaining and to 4 points with 4 minutes remaining after another 3-pointer by Kovac, Esch came as close as 2 points and the game was close in the final minutes
– Tom Schumacher, who scored 16 points, hit a big 3 to secure the victory for Dudelange (video)
– Harris led T71 with 27 points and 15 rebounds, Rugg had 16 points and 17 rebounds for Esch
– Muller had a double-double with 14 points and 14 rebounds, Kovac had 15 points for Esch
Game 2 of the series will be played on Friday-evening (20:15) in Esch!
Press-articles:
wort.lu –> T71 Düdelingen bezwingt Basket Esch im ersten Finale
rtl.lu –> Diddeleng wënnt mat 80:71 géint Esch
