The Malta Independent 16 April 2024, Tuesday
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Basketball, Men's BOV National League: League double for Luxol, over Balkans

Willie Vassallo Saturday, 2 February 2019, 19:34 Last update: about 6 years ago

Balkan Fusion     67     Bupa Luxol    128

 (14-35, 24-30, 15-34, 14-29)

Luxol recorded a second league victory, and a high scoring one, just one shy of Starlites' win, over the same Balkans. The Violets are chasing a semifinal place in the Play Offs, which is becoming a very tight race. Luxol went all out for a comprehensive victory, gaining their century with the first hoop of the last quarter. The Balkans played an open game, trying to improve on their tally throughout the match, irrespective of the points they suffered. There were some high personal scores, for a number of players, and, to top it all, there were a total of 27 triples shared between the two sides. Balkans were missing Nemanja Radicevic, who was work tied.

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The Violets began to pour in their points from the start, with their four scorers all potting treys, JP Schembri with three, and others from Serbian, Vukassin Jandric, American, Jerrell Martin, and Keith Dimech. Despite going down heavily, Balkans had Nikola Bozovic with a brace of treys. In the second session Balkans were more competitive, but Luxol were still draining their points. This time it was Martin with a trio of triples, for Luxol, along with another, by CJ Cordina, as they grabbed Luxol's points, bar a lone hoop. At the other end Balkans had Nemanja Despotovic with three treys, and Bozovic and Nemanja Komienic, with others, as they also metted all the points, bar a single basket. At the interval Luxol were already on a large 65-38 advantage.

After the break Balkans fell away once more, as the Violets pounded their opponents' basket, going to within a whisker of the century. Here Swede, William Ahlberg, who missed his side's last match, distinguished himself with four late triples, with Jandric and Martin netting another each. Balkans ' triple contribution came from a brace, by Despotovic, as Luxol went into the last session on a 99-53 score. The last period had Luxol still thirsting for more. Jandric and Ahlberg netted a triple each, and their bench players, Liam Caruana Montaldo and Philip Engelbert, had a taste of the match on court, and Martin led the way, with his next points. Bozovic continued to enhance his tally, for the Balkans, whilst the Violets went much further on, in their century victory.

Balkan: N. Despotovic 19, N. Bozovic 26, T. Grech 5, P. Walk 8, A. Schembri 2, M. Gauci Montaldo 4, S. Todorovic, N. Komienic 3, N. Kovacevic

Luxol: CJ Cordina 12, V. Jandric 23, L. Caruana Montaldo 2, J. Martin 33, P. Engelbert, JP Schembri 11, K. Dimech 17, W. Ahlberg 18, F. Sekulic 10, S. Cappello 2

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