Luxol kept up their impressive record against Depiro, five out of five, in four different competitions. Depiro were in the game for some time but midway through the third session they lost touch, and Luxol romped home.
Luxol had Edgar Caruana Montaldo and Beppe Micallef Trigona missing from this match. Don Ross returned for Depiro after missing their last game against the same opponents, a few days before, in the Louis Borg Cup semis. Coach, Adrian Mifsud, opted to start Depiro with two of his youngsters. They responded with a 5-2 lead, and a Roderick Vella trey. Luxol replied by taking the lead, but lost it as Malcolm Mallia grabbed the points for Depiro. Luxol however made amends as they finished off the session with a 9-2 run, including a Steve Schembri trey.
In the second quarter the Violets struck again, and Silvio Cassar sank three hoops in a row, but Emanuel Lupo then played havoc with Luxol's zone, and brought Depiro back in contention. Robert Azzopardi sank a trey for Luxol, and the session ended with a 31-25 advantage for the Violets at the interval.
After the break Luxol held on to their lead in the opening stages but Depiro bounced back and went to just 32-35 down. This was a sign for Luxol to pull up their socks and Reuben Dalli came on the scene with his points, in a 12-2 run, including a trey, and Luxol opened up a comfortable 47-34 lead after three sessions.
The last quarter saw Depiro push forward and get near enough, after their opening points. Luxol got down to business again, and some good shooting put them beyond reach, in a long 13-0 run, snapped by a Gavin Muscat hoop. The end came soon after. with Luxol ending the second round of play on an equal basis of four wins and four defeats.
Depiro: 11 Roderick Vella, 10 Emanuel Lupo
Luxol: 19 Chris Sammut, 12 Reuben Dalli, 11 Steve Schembri
Referees: Carlo Farrugia, Emanuel Mangani
Hamrun Go Mobile 63
Pembroke 58
(17-14)(11-13) (21-9) (14-22)
The champions returned from two defeats, which took them out of two competitions, and ended the second round on a good lead from the other teams, which practically assured them of a top placing before the play offs. They nearly threw the match away, with a large lead, but recovered after a great Pembroke come-back. They had Alan Borg to thank for, with his impressive number of treys.
David camilleri was again missing for Liberty, and Steve Pace was not in the list after making an appearance in the defeat by Pembroke in the Louis Borg Cup, although he only made the bench.Liberty had Jide Jetson making the first two hoops before Pembroke could start off, and they did by taking the lead, at 6-4. Treys at both ends and Hamrun took off again with an 8-0 run, which gave them enough of a lead, despite Pembroke's good ending to the session.
In the second period Hamrun kept their lead. Alan Borg began with his third trey, and although Pembroke had a reply through treys by Duncan Cuschieri and Etienne Bezzina, Liberty kept their noses in front, despite a late Michael Naudi trey. At the interval it was a close 28-27 score for Liberty.
After the break the two sides shared the exchanges, but Hamrun had Alan Borg in his three-point shooting vein. Pembroke took the lead temporarily, but a 7-0 Liberty run started off their command till the end of the session, and Alan Borg's treys did the rest.
In the last quarter Hamrun kept up the good work and the Borg brothers sank two more treys. Pembroke resorted to press to make up the big leeway that they were confronted with, being 40-59 down.
They rose to the occasion and hammered Hamrun with an impressive 18-0 return to breathe down their nacks again.
Alan Borg came up with his eighth trey to give life to the stricken Liberty and further free shots gave them a suffered victory which looked an easy one midway through the last session.
Hamrun: 26 Alan Borg, 11 Albert Spiteri
Pembroke: 15 Michael Naudi
Referees: Bernard Vassallo, Jean Paul Sammut
Standings: 15 Hamrun L. Go Mobile (7-1), 12 Pembroke (4-4), 12 Luxol Bupa (4-4), 11 Siggiewi Smina (3-5), 10 Depiro Kyocera (2-6)