Bell Net SN Suns 49

Tata Motors Loyola 100

(5-24, 8-29, 15-24, 21-23)

As expected Loyola did not have much worries to advance to the final easily disposing of Suns from a lower division.

Loyola hemmed in their opponents straight from the start denying them till the interval. Although Loyola’s points continued to rise, Suns also had their fair share after the break and they finished off their season on a good note despite their heavy loss.

Suns presented a seven-man team with four of their players unavailable. Loyola had Joshua Anastasi out for the tail end of the season.

Loyola pressed from the start and they made an opening 11-2 run with a Sean Borg triple. Suns replied as best they could but they were unable to stop their adversaries. Loyola put in a further 13-2 run this time with a brace of triples from David Camilleri and Rashanti Harris made more points.

In the second session, Loyola were still pushing forward. An 11-2 run with a Shawn Pace trey started them off. Suns tried to hold their opponents back but Loyola were still rampant and this time it was a 15-2 run with more personal points from Billy Zammit also with a triple. Igor Marjanovic put in a couple of hoops but Loyola had already raced away to mark up a hefty 53-13 score halfway through the match.

After the break, Suns were more into the picture but Loyola did not shirk from tallying up their quota for the period. It was Marjanovic still for Suns with most of the points.

Loyola’s points were more evenly shared but Luke Azzopardi netted a brace of triples and so did Camilleri. Loyola ended the period on a 9-2 run when all their players had put their names on the score sheet for a 77-28 score.

As often happens, the last session was a more open one. Keith Scicluna was more in action for suns with Loyola making up their replies with two more triples from camilleri. Suns’ score also climbed more till the end of the match. Loyola reached their century with a third Azzopardi trey.

Suns: 10 K. Scicluna,4 R. Camilleri, 3 H. Agius,6 M. Barberi, 3 T. Grech, 2 R. Mercieca, 21 I. Marjanovic

Loyola: 11 S. Pace, 15 B. Zammit, 18 D. Camilleri, 4 M. Cilia, 5 S. Borg, 9 L. Azzopardi, 4 S. Vella, 6 A. Axiaq, 6 J Azzopardi, 5 J. Ransley, 17 R. Harris

Referees: A. Carbonaro, S. Gouder