Starlites GIG     114     Bupa Luxol     86

(37-27, 39-22, 25-17, 13-20)

There were no worries for Starlites, as they went alongside Hibs, at the top of the standings, when they swept aside the Luxol challenge, for their third victory over the Violets, this season. Points were plentiful, when the two sides managed to net two centuries of points between them. Starlites were with their standard formation, but not so Luxol, who had a depleted outfit. Gone was their American, Jerrell Martin, after their loss to Floriana, and Keith Dimech was missing once more, as was Dirk Schembri, after his appearance against the Greens.

It was a very open match, as attackers held full sway over defenders, Starlites went immediately ahead, and stayed there, with Luxol pulling points back, by Serbian, Vukasin Jandric, and Montenegran, Filip Sekulic. Starlites pushed forward, to extend their lead, and then the treys began to trickle in. Swede, William Ahlberg, started for the Violets, followed by Starlites' American, Jordan Stotts. Till the end of the session Luxol added three more triples, from JP Schembri, Ahlberg and CJ Cordina, but Starlites were on a double figure advantage. In the next period Jandric and Ahlberg sank three more treys, and Luxol were close, but not for long, as an 11-0 run had Starlites further in front, with Robert Bonnici and Nick Formosa treys. Luxol tried to resist, but Starlites just kept on piling up the score. American, William Darley, netted a triple, with Ahlberg making another one, for Luxol. Another spate of points had Starlites going to a heavy 76-49 lead, at the interval.

After the break the tempo of the game began to slow down, but not the triples. Bonnici began for Starlites, followed by Ahlberg and Sekulic, for the Violets. Then there were Darley, a couple from Alec Felice Pace and Formosa, as Starlites went past the century mark, for a 101-66 score. The last quarter saw more bench players being introduced on court, for Starlites, and later on the Luxol youngsters also went out to play. The scoring fell away from Starlites' side, but still they had Matthew Scerri, Darley and Ward netting treys. For Luxol there were Ahlberg and Schembri, as their side cut down on their heavy deficit, but Starlites were still 114-86 to the good, at the end.

Starlites: A. Felice Pace 18, N. Formosa14, R. Bonnici 10, I. Felice Pace , C. Ward 20, M. Falzon, M. Scerri 3, R. Carabott 8, W. Darley 17, A. Sears 13, J. Stotts 11

Luxol: CJ Cordina 8, V. Jandric 22, J. Cefai, P. Engelbert, JP Schembri 6, W. Ahlberg 27, F. Sekulic 19, S. Cappello 4

Referees: T. Mantere, Z. Dobrosavljevic, K. Dworniczak

 

Gzira Athleta     98     Balkan Fusion     61

(22-10, 29-12, 28-14, 19-25)

Athleta have played a game more than the two teams just below them, in the standings, and this could change things, in the coming matches. Athleta were already given a couple of walk overs by the Balkans, earlier on in the season, but this time there were six players on court, for the Fusion. Athleta's strong play, before the end of the opening session, and in the second one, established a commanding advantage, which served till the end of the match. When Athleta slackened a little, in the last quarter, then the Balkans could hike up their score, making it a more respectable final score. Athleta were again without their two Serbian bench players, Alex Parunici and Ivan Mitrovic, with the young Abela twins, Ryan and Eric, taking their place. American, Connell Crossland, stayed on the bench, with a niggling back injury, and another American, Julio Guity, was only used sparingly. The Balkan side had an equal mixture of local and foreign players.

The Balkans kept pace till the latter stages of the opening session, as Matthew Gouder put in a brace of treys and American, Vincent pace, another one, for Athleta, and Nikola Bozovic put in his, for the Balkans. Then Athelta made a late 8-0 run, to forge further ahead. In the second period Athleta struck in a determined manner, allowing only a couple of Balkan buckets, as they ran up a heavy 22-2 score, with a Luca Stefanovic trey, as he had quite a good number of minutes of play. The Balkans reacted towards the end of the period, but Nikola Vasovic sank an Athleta triple, and his side were 51-22 in front, at the interval.

After the break the Balkans shared the played for a while, denying their opponents further advances in the score, but later on Athleta made up a 13-4 score, with Peter Shoults and Vasovic triples, for a 79-36 score. The last session had the Balkans cutting down on their heavy deficit, and Stefan Todorovic sank a trey, before Athleta came back, and Nathan Xuereb made his trey. The Balkans replied with more points, but the last points of the match came from Athleta attacks, with a final 8-2 run, which left them just short of the century, which they didn't bother to go for.

Athleta: N. Vasovic 22, C. Crossland, P. Shoults 10, L. Stefanovic 14, R. Abela 4, N. Xuereb 11, M. Gouder 13, V. Pace 16, E. Abela 2, J. Guity 6 

Balkan: N. Bozovic 21, T. Grech 4, A. Schembri 2, M. Gauci Montaldo 15, S. Todorovic 11, N. Kovacevic 8  

Referees: T. Mantere, D. Torok, I. Simic