Malta made it two wins from two games, and now progress to the semi finals, along with Moldova, who had earlier beaten San Marino.

The two sides will now play against each other, for the top position in the group. Monaco simply had no reply to Samuel Deguara's presence on court, as the tall Maltese lad made nearly half of his side's points, and would have increased his tally, if he was fed more balls in the zone by his team mates.

A good score too for the Maltese-American, Tevin Falzon, whose languid appearance belies his movements on court. Monaco had to double and triple Mark Deguara, and the other Maltese players could have utilised the space afforded to them better.

A stiffer test awaits the locals today, with Moldova's tall players seemingly able to deal with Deguara better, but that we will have to see. David Bugeja was given a rest, after his slight injury in the first match.

A 10-0 run opened up the match for Malta, and a little later Deguara made up a personal 11-2 run , after Robinaud's trey for Monaco. The latter responded with a 9-1 run. and a Varitto triple, but so did Falzon, as Malta established a double figure lead.

In the second quarter the locals could increase their advantage, although Monaco were more active, but a good ending, till the interval, had Malta leading 45-21 midway through the match.

In the third session Monaco surprised their opponents with an opening 10-0 run, but Deguara went on court once more, and the Maltese ended the period on a strong 15-3 run, starting with a JP Schembri trey, as Seassau also sank a triple for Monaco.

In the final session the points were more balanced, although Malta also won this quarter as they did the other three. It was Falzon who was the more active, as Deguara took a back seat for some time. Varitto made his second trey for Monaco, who were too far behind to pose any problems.

Monaco: 1 B. Thirouard, 5 M. Robinaud, 2 J. Ba, 17 M. Varitto, 4 R. Rosenal, 6 J. Thirouard, 3 A. Mereto, 6 M. Barte, 2 R. Seassau

Malta: 5 JP SChembri, E. Bonello, C. Pereira, 4 G. Cuschieri, 9 N. Sultana, 17 T. Falzon, 6 T. Paris, 2 A. Axiaq, M. Giusti, R. Galea, 37 S. Deguara

Referees: Haydn Jones (Wales), Gianluigi Giancecchi (San Marino), Pascale Weiwers (Luxembourg)

Other results:

Group A

San Marino-Moldova 56-77

21 U. Briganti, 24 S. Gordienco, 18 N. Cojuhari

Referees: Tolga Sahin (Italy), Francis Santos (Gibraltar), Gordon Barbara (Malta)

Group B

Gibraltar-Wales 63-55 (Gibraltar also progress to the semi finals)

25 D. Aston-Fox, 18 D. Pulman

Referees: Vicente Bulta (Spain), Bernard Vassallo (Malta), Dimitriou Stasiev (Moldova)

Playing today:

Group B

2.45 pm Wales-Andorra

Group A

5pm Monaco-San Marino

7.15pm Malta-Moldova