Floriana F. Fenech     62

Bupa Luxol     71

(17-12. 22-16, 12-16, 11-27)

Luxol had a harrowing time against Floriana and it looked odds on that they were to be eliminated after falling behind and seeing Floriana surge forward with authority. Everything turned around in the last session as the Greens became hesitant and the Violets’ triples began to pour in. Lee Ross contributed to this Green debacle as the violets went into the semis.

Floriana recovered Chris Sammut from his injury in the Gozo Cup last week. Luxol had Lee Ross on court after missing the Gozo Cup games and Andrew Cremona was back on the island.

Luxol began with with an Antoine Costa triple and went into an 8-0 lead. Floriana recovered from this difficult start and posted an 11-0 run with an Ian Mercieca trey as they swept in front. The Violets didn’t recover and Floriana added on two more hoops for good measure.

In the second period Luxol were still at odds and ends and the Greens took the opportunity to plant in a further 14-2 run ending with a Steve Sammut triple and their advantage became a solid one at 31-14. Luxol then reacted with a good spell and a 7-1 run but Floriana were back with a second Mercieca. Triple free throws from Ross took Luxol a bit closer but they were still 28-39 in arrears at the interval.

The Violets’ first attempts after the break were thwarted when the Greens had Mercieca and Steve Sammut with more treys in a 10-2 run. Luxol began to recover sufficiently and went on till the end of the quarter with an 11-2 run as they crew closer on a 44-51 score.

In the final period Luxol’s next attempts had them on a drawn score after an opening 7-0 run with a Ross triple. After these exertions it was Floriana again with a 7-0 run to open up their previous advantage.

This time Luxol were not to be denied and a 10-2 run with Ross and Nikola Vasovic treys had them ahead. The Greens put in a couple of free throws but the Violets kept pressing on and triples from Costa and Ross along with more Ross points sealed the match for Luxol and the last place in the semis.

Floriana:  9 S. Sammut,  J. Curmi, 5 N. Mercieca, 16 C. Sammut, 25 I. Mercieca. R. Polis, 8 A. Sultana, 4 M. Ciantar

Luxol: CJ Cordina, 4 M. Mercieca, 1 A. Micallef Trigona, 27 L. Ross, S. Mizzi, 6 A. Costa, 15 N. Vasovic, 8 T. Paris, 4 A. Cremona, E. Caruana Montaldo,  6 JP Bonnici, S. Cappello

Referees: G. Barbara, E. Mangiani, C. Terribile