Athleta were already sure of a place in the Championship Pool and for the second time they had Michael Naudi just on the bench. They were still good enough to register their seventh victory this season over their near neighbours.

Luxol were close till the start of the third period but when Athleta began to draw away there was no way back for the Violets who now are very much involved with Depiro for the third Pool spot.

Luxol included Stefan Capello in lieu of Sean Mizzi. Athleta, besides the non-inclusion of Naudi, also had Clayton Calleja and Alex Ryan missing.

Athleta’s opening points found a reply as Luxol took a brief lead until Athleta made up a 7-2 run with a Steve Schembri triple.

Petar Apcev made nearly all of Luxol’s points in this session as they finished just a basket behind as Addison Bonnici continued with his recent good form for Athleta.

The Violets twice tied the score in the second period before Athleta struck once more and a 10-2 run with a second Schembri triple opened up the first real advantage.

Luxol managed to share the exchanges till the end of the session but Kristin Baldacchino put in late points for Athleta including a trey and at the interval his side was 35-29 in front.

After the break Luxol’s brace of triples by Apcev and Jean Paul Bonnici had them just adrift of their adversaries but Athleta came up with a 9-0 run to take their lead into double figures.

The Violets stopped them but Athleta were away once more this time with an 8-3 closing run and although Robert Azzopardi bagged a Luxol triple.

Addison Bonnici’s trey gave Athleta a 53-41 cushion with a session to go.

Athleta followed up with a further 10-0 run, mostly from Dirk Schembri and Luxol’s hopes took a nosedive. The latter tried to make amends but they were hit yet again by a couple of Etienne Bezzina triples.

Azzopardi sank a second trey for Luxol but a 9-0 closing run and a Jonathan Zammit triple put the finishing touch to Athleta’s victory.

Luxol: C. Cordina, 8 M. Mercieca, 15 R. Azzopardi, 4 A. Micallef Trigona, 18 P. Apcev, A. Costa, 2 N. Vasovic, T. Paris, A. Cremona, E. Caruana Montaldo, 5 JP Bonnici, S. Capello

Athleta: 5 J. Zammit, 2 C. Galea, 9 E. Bezzina, 12 D. Schembri, 10 O. Said, 19 A. Bonnici, 13 K. Baldacchino, 10 S. Schembri

Referees: B. Vassallo, E. Mangani, A. Carbonaro