The 5th edition of the European FIBA Promotion Cup for Junior Men was held in Malta last week. The six days of competition witnessed a good number of hard fought matches with eight countries fighting for the top spot.

Ultimately Andorra emerged out as worthy winners after beating Scotland 97-85 in a highly technical, clean and spectacular game in the final. Malta finished in sixth place with two victories in the week. Yet another local highlight in the tournament was in the refereeing sector.

Maltese FIBA international referee Bernard Vassallo, who was one of a pool of nine international referees nominated by FIBA to control the matches in this official tournament, was entrusted by the foreign FIBA commissioner to control this final as the main referee.

Vassallo had already been entrusted to control four other matches as the main referee along the week, including the tense Group A decider between Scotland and Luxembourg (73-67) in the group phase.

This was the fourth time that Vassallo controlled an official FIBA tournament final at various levels, including one at senior men level, apart from a men's final in the Small Nations Games.