Luxol ended their first phase with another good win over Floriana, and they finished quite near the century they obtained in their last encounter against the Greens.

All the sessions finished comfortably in their favour, as Floriana had an uphill task from the start. The Greens will now strive to keep their top status in the Relegation Pool whilst Luxol will aim for a league success, in the Championship Pool.

Luxol went 6-0 ahead, with a Robert Azzopardi trey, before Floriana could make their first contribution, and a Bernardo Riolo trey brought them close. Floriana kept up, and even went into a 12-10 lead. Luxol made their reaction, and a 12-2 run, with a couple of Chris Sammut treys, gave them enough of a lead, which they held till the end of the quarter despite Floriana’s reply.

In the second session the Violets extended their lead, but Floriana rallied well and a Karl Borg trey, in a 7-0 run, saw the Greens 25-29 behind.

Luxol took command, and an 11-0 run, with Steve Schembri sinking a trey, opened up the lead again. Floriana’s reply was not effective enough, and Luxol had Chris Sammut in form to increase their advantage further, before Karl Borg stopped the run with his second trey. At the interval Luxol were 47-30 in front.

After the break Luxol were still intent on making the game safer. An 8-2 run opened up their lead further, but Florina then capitalised on Luxol’s penchant of shooting on sight, to share the play for some time. Camilleri made his second trey, as Luxol went into the last quarter with a 66-39 favourable score.

Floriana tried to aim for a more respectable scoreline, and the opening minutes saw them share the play, and the points. When Luxol pressed, Mark Micallef came off the bench, to sink a number of points.

A further 11-0 run, with Azzopardi’s third trey, enhanced Luxol’s lead. At the end they made a belated try for the century, with Azzopardi making another trey, but they failed by a few points.

LUXOL: 18 C. Sammut, 4 M. Mercieca, 18 R. Azzopardi, A. Bianchi, M. Portera, R. Dalli, 19 D. Schembri, 4 E. Caruana Montaldo, 5 J. Jetson, 18 S, Schembri

FLORIANA: R. Spiteri, 1 N. Falzon, 2 J. Paris, 7 A. Sultana, 7 B. Riolo, 12 K. Borg, 4 G. Gilson, 6 R. Mifsud, 6 G. Gauci Grech, 10 D. Ross

REFEREES: Jean Paul Sammut, Emanuel Mangani, Stephen Micallef