Gzira Athleta     118     Depiro     95

 (32-18, 35-24, 30-26, 21-27)

Athleta still defend their league title, won last season, with aplomb, as they registered their fifth straight victory, and their second seasonal win over their opponents.  They had their two Americans, Connell Crossland and Ian Thiesen, in great form, but they were pipped to the best scorer status, by Depiro's point machine, Quinn Cooper. Athleta left Shawn Pace on the bench, and it was the first time that the Abela brothers both made hoops in a top division match. Depiro have parted company with their Serbian, Marco Tosorovic, and Michael Naudi has again called it a day, after briefly appearing, after his retirement. They are expecting their new American to arrive in the coming week. Depiro have now suffered back to back defeats, and remain on two wins, from five encounters. The Depiro side are always involved in high scoring matches, but, sadly for them, they finish up most of them on the losing side.

It was the champions with the opening lead, a 7-1 run, with Crossland's first triple. Depiro's efforts to creep nearer became unstuck, as Athleta had Nathan Xuereb and Thiesen sinking treys, and then an Athleta 10-2 run propelled them forward. Depiro always had Cooper pouring in his points, but the champions, but a Matthew Gouder triple had Athleta on a sound advantage.  The second quarter was replete with points, as the champions extended their lead further. Their treys kept coming, with Gouder, Peter Shoults and Serbian, Milos Novakovic, making theirs, along with more Crossland buckets. Depiro were slipping into bigger deficits as time passed, although Nicholas Grech and Kurt Xuereb were hiking up their tally. Then it was Shoults, once more, and Luca Stefanovic with more Athleta triples, as their side were enjoying a heavy 67-42 advantage at the halfway mark.

After the break, despite more Depiro points, Athleta always found ways to keep on increasing their lead. Early Xuereb and Crossland treys helped their cause, but Depiro came up with a 9-2 run, and a Xuereb trey. They followed up with a further 11-2 run, to cut down on their large deficit. The last part of the session was again in the champions' hands, as Athleta made up a late 13-4 run, with a second Stefanovic trey, to reach a 97-68 score, just missing on their century in the third session. It was Crossland's free throws to register the ton, with Nicholas Grech netting Depiro's second trey, their total for the day. With Athleta on such a large advantage, they took their foot off the pedal for a bit, and Depiro, despite losing Xuereb and their Czech player, Adam Chomo, on fouls, sneaked in a 10-0 run. Late in the game Athleta made a final spurt, and ended the match with six more hoops, for an admirable scoreline, although Depiro's heavy score is also to be taken in consideration.

For the record referee, Bernard Vassallo, will continue his forays into the European mainland, with yet another appointment, in the FIBA EuroLeague, next week, when he will be travelling to Belgium.

Athleta: M. Novakovic 9, C. Crossland 3, N. Buhagiar, P. Shoults 12, L. Stefanovic 6, S. Galea, N. Xuereb 12, M. Gouder 19, I. Thiesen 24, E. Abela 2, R. Abela 2

Depiro: Q. Cooper 33, J. Attard, D. Farrugia 4, N. Grech 15, O. Said 4, K. Xuereb 18, M. Borg 2, A, Chomo 19, A. Attard

Referees: B. Vassallo, G. Barbara, D. Torok