Bupa Luxol     29

Depiro Mtarfa     69

(5-20, 9-17, 10-15, 5-17)

One tends to look at the final score in disbelief but Depiro ran rings around their adversaries as Luxol tried to obtain quick results in their attacks and sometimes indulged in fancy play thus playing into Depiro’s hands and the latter took full advantage to punish the Violets time and time again.

The more time passed, the more Depiro grew in confidence with Luxol not only conceding points but also being thwarted for most of the time in attack.

Luxol paraded their new signing Lee Ross but Robert Azzopardi is now deemed to be retired. Depiro have now lost David Bugeja but they had Abraham Portelli in their ranks for this season.

The Violets were surprised by a strong Depiro opening who stormed into a 13-0 advantage with triples by Andrew Aquilina and Roderick Vella.

There was not much of a Luxol retaliation as Depiro went on with their scoring with Luxol falling rapidly behind despite their hurried efforts to get back in the game.

The second period was even worse for the Violets at first. It was Jean Paul Schembri with a triple for Depiro as they continued on for a steady 14-run leaving their disconsolate opponents far behind. A sort of recovery by Luxol had them on a 7-1 run but by the interval they were yet way in arrears on a 14-37 score.

After the break Luxol managed to react to their adversaries’ early hoops but once more fell to Depiro’s insistence as they put in a 9-0 run with a second Vella trey.

Although the Violets put together a sequence of points there was clear daylight between the two teams with Depiro on a hefty 52-24 advantage.

Portelli kept up Depiro’s thrust in the last period with a personal three basket run with the Violets offering up points by Jean Paul Bonnici including a triple.

That was as far as they got and for the remainder of the match it was a series of Depiro consecutive points in an 11-0 run which kept the Luxol players in their demoralised state.

Luxol: CJ Cordina, 1 M. Mercieca, S. Mizzi, 3 A. Micallef Trigona, 6 L. Ross, 2 A. Costa, 2 N. Vasovic, 2 T. Paris, M. Attard Montaldo, E. Caruana Montaldo, 13 JP Bonnici, S. Cappello

Depiro: 22 R. Vella, 5 JP Schembri, D. Agius, 8 A. Aquilina, 14 A. Portelli, 5 E. Lupo, 5 M. Mallia, 10 I. Tanti

Referees: G. Barbara, A. Carbonaro, C. Terribile