Bupa effected a remarkable recovery, from a full twenty points down, in the third quarter, to book a place in the semis, and stay in line for their honour this season. It was a match with no quarter asked or given, and team play and individual performances played their part. Compleet must surely kick themselves for not holding on to a substantial lead, but notwithstanding, they still came back for a final try in saving the match, but Bupa held on grimly, to take the spoils. It was pity that a match of this calibre had to come so early in the competition, as it could be termed as a final.
Compleet had Etienne Bezzina missing, but recovered Tino Riolo, after his short stint abroad, and he performed admirably. They also started the match without Michael Naudi.
A balanced start to the game saw Kirsten Baldacchino put in his first trey for Compleet. Soon after came his second, as Compleet went 12-6 in front. Bupa recovered through Dirk Schembri, but Compleet had Silvio Cassar in good shooting form, and an 11-0 run put distance between the two sides. Steve Schembri sank a trey for Bupa, but they were trailing badly after the first session.
In the second quarter Steve Schembri tried to buck Bupa up, but Adrian Micallef and Cassar helped Compleet to run up another 11-2 break, and Bupa were in trouble. They did recover, with an 8-2 run, and a Robert Azzoparditrey, but at the interval they were still 26-40 in arrears.
After the break the game turned topsy turvy. Compleet rammed in another trio of hoops, and went madly in front, but then they were caught out , as Bupa suddenly saw the light. A 16-0 run, with teeth bared, as Azzopardi sank two more treys, put Bupa back in contention. Cassar stopped the run, but Bupa came back again, with another 8-0 run, to storm in front. Compleet rallied twice more, to tie the score, but Bupa were ahead, after three sessions, on a 54-52 score.
A couple of hoops extended Bupa’s lead, in the final quarter, but Compleet recovered. to do likewise. Then it was treys for Bupa, as Azzopardi guided them in from near his team’s bench, and Compleet had to chase the result. That they did, and they crawled back to 66-69 down. Bupa’s free throws lifted them up again, and all Compleet’s efforts till the end of the match proved fruitless, as Bupa could play out the remaining time.
Compleet: 4 M. Naudi, J. Zammit, C. Calleja, J. Galea, T. Riolo, 9 O. Said, 11 A. Micallef, 15 M. Zammit, 13 K. Baldacchino, 19 S. Cassar, R. Mifsud
Bupa: S. Mizzi, 2 M. Mercieca, 22 R. Azzopardi, A. Cremona, 2 A. Borg, A. Bianchi, M. Bonnici, T. Paris, 21 D. Schembri, E. Caruana Montaldo, 15 M. Matijevic, 16 S. Schembri
Rererees: Bernard Vassallo, Emanuel Mangani, Anthony Micallef