A to Z Elec. Athleta 67

Siggiewi 54

(18-13, 20-8, 14-18, 15-15)

Athleta kept up their winning sequence in the league with their fifth win in a row. A strong opening for the champions served them to take command of the match and prevent Siggiewi from getting near enough to cause any difficulties.

Siggiewi also had the misfortune to lose Louis Camilleri injured in the latter part of the encounter with the possibility of it being long term.

Both teams fielded the same teams as in their last game with the exception of young Luke Grima missing from the Siggiewi ranks.

Athleta got off to a flying start with two triples from Omar Said on either side of a heavy 16-0 run.

Siggiewi finally settled down and proceeded to make up a solid 13-2 run which included treys by Alan Borg and two more from Camilleri and the deficit between the two sides went down to five points.

In the second session Athleta were off once more with an 11-0 run and more treys from Michael Naudi and Steve Schembri for another double figure advantage. Siggiewi had Alan Borg with another triple but the champions had more up their sleeves and another 9-0 run starting with a second Steve Schembri trey had them on a better lead than before. Siggiewi put in some more points but at the interval Athleta still enjoyed a healthy 38-21 advantage.

After the break Siggiewi’s efforts to make up the deficit again were being dealt with effectively by the champions even though Siggiewi built up an 8-2 run with a Marco Matijevic triple.

At the other end it was Naudi with a brace of treys to extend his side’s lead. With hoops going in at either end Athleta’s lead remained constant with only a slight variation. Athleta were then leading 52-39.

In the last quarter Said sank a further Athleta triple and Dirk Schembri added on more points.

Siggiewi had Karl Borg with a couple of treys but neither side could obtain a useful advantage and the champions could control the remainder of the match and end the first round of play with five victories. 

Athleta: 26  M. Naudi,  I. Buldakov,  D. Bugeja, 8 M. Todorovic, M. Giusti, O. Said, 5 D. Schembri, 2  A. Bonnici,  K. Baldacchino, 14 S. Schembri

Siggiewi:  R. Agius, 8 L. Camilleri,  E. Xuereb, 9  A. Borg,  8 K. Borg, 13 C. Meier, C. Kodomaris, 16  M. Matijevic

Referees: G. Barbara, E. Mangani, A. Carbonaro