Bupa recorded their second league victory, and their second win over Siggiewi this season. For the latter it was their first league encounter. Siggiewi’s faulty start enabled Bupa to take a substantial lead in the first part of the match, and this helped them to ease their minds, and play out the rest of the game in a confident manner, even though Siggiewi, as is their wont, made a belated effort, which didn’t quite make it, but the final score is a very satisfying one for them.

Siggiewi had Louis Camilleri making his return, after missing two matches, through injury. They also included their new foreign player, Petar Vulovic from Serbia.

Both sides made a quiet start, and it was Siggiewi with the first points. The champions settled down, and they went on to a long 10-0 run, with Marco Matijevic and Steve Schembri grabbing the points. Siggiewi stopped the run with a Louis Camilleri hoop, but the Violets, sporting a new, red outfit, had Steve Schembri sinking a trey, and adding more free throws, as Luxol crept away from their opponents. In the second quarter Luxol were still pressing for more, and they embarked on a good 12-2 run, as treys also went in, from Steve Schembri and Robert Azzopardi. At last Siggiewi rallied, and they strung up a three basket spell, mainly from Camilleri. The champions recovered, and four different players put in their points, as their lead escalated to a 37-18 score at the interval.

After the break it was a more balanced affair. Siggiewi had Petar Vulovic sinking a trey at the start, followed soon after by a JP Bonnici hoop. The champions relied on their confident play, and they began to extend their lead once more. There was another Schembri trey, in a 9-2 run, and the Violets continued with further points. The last part of this quarter belonged to Siggiewi, as Adrian Micallef led his side to a rally, although the score was still 52-33 in Luxol’s favour. In the final session Bupa put in three hoops in a row, but Siggiewi had a bright period, as they made ten points to Bupa’s trey, by Alan Borg. It was Luxol’s turn to recover, as Azzopardi made his second trey. Siggiewi’s pride was evident in the latter stages of the match, as they finished off with a steady 12-1 run, which included a Micallef trey, among other of his points. On their part Bupa were quite happy to hear the final buzzer.

Siggiewi: JP Antoncic, B. Zammit, 7 L. Camilleri, J. Doughty, E. Xuereb, I. Mercieca, 11 P. Shoults, 10 JP Bonnici, 23 A. Micallef, 3 P. Vulovic, M. Pajic, 7 J. Jetson

Bupa: R. Dalli, 6 M. Mercieca, 6 R. Azzopardi, M. Micallef, 7 A. Borg, 10 A. Portelli, T. Paris, 4 D. Schembri, 15 M. Matijevic, 21 S. Schembri

Referees: Bernard Vassallo, Jean Paul Sammut, Alfred Carbonaro