Siggiewi, Luxol off to a flying start

The first day of the 2003-2004 Kinnie League yielded victories for defending champions Luxol Bupa and Siggiewi at the expense of Hamrun Go Mobile and Pembroke Tumas Group respectively.

Siggiewi 68
Pembroke 63
(16-10, 16-15, 14-21, 22-17)

Siggiewi served an early notice of their intent to challenge for honours with an opening victory over Pembroke Tumas Group.

Pembroke, who had former Hamrun pivot Tino Riolo making his debut, played the better basketball during the third period but for the rest of the game, they played second fiddle to Siggiewi who were without injured forward Adrian Micallef.

Steve and Dirk Dowling made their first appearance for Siggiewi.

After a sluggish start, three consecutive three-pointers saw Siggiewi taking a 9-2 lead by the fifth minute.

Substitutions helped Pembroke to recover but after wiping out Siggiewi's lead, they were on the receiving end of the closing six points of the session to fall behind, 16-10.

Siggiewi continued to hold the upperhand as the second session got underway, stretching their lead to 28-15 by the sixth minute.

Pembroke's improved efforts only helped them to narrow the gap to 32-25 before the interval.

The start of the third session belonged to Pembroke. Taking advantage of Siggiewi's obsession to force the ball into their opponents' zone, Pembroke moved 35-34 ahead by the third minute.

Siggiewi hit back and freethrows saw them levelling the score at the end of the session, 46-46.

Ray Muscat's team regained the lead as the last ten minutes began to trickle by. Pembroke's glaring errors underneath the board facilitated matters for Siggiewi who opened a commanding 61-52 lead with three minutes left.

Jeffrey Gatt's height helped Siggiewi to protect their lead up to the final whistle as Pembroke's late rally proved fruitless.

Siggiewi: D. Schembri 4, M. Pisani 10, J. Doughty 4, N. Farrugia 6, A. Portelli 10, S. Schembri 11, R. Mifsud 4, S. Cauchi, J. Gatt 19.

Pembroke: M. Naudi 20, J. Naudi 4, M. Zammit 4, E. Bezzina 1, T. Riolo 12, O. Said 17, D. Cuschieri 5, T. Degiorgio, J. Ransley, M. Pisani.

Luxol 66
Hamrun Liberty 65
(18-7, 10-19, 22-25, 16-14)

In an interesting match which saw the lead changing hands several times, Luxol's strong opening proved to be the platform for their victory.

With both sides relying on their youth talent, it was veteran Robert Azzopardi who swung the balance in Luxol's favour with his eight three-pointers .

For the first time in many years, Luxol took to the Corradino court without their tall captain Ivan Attard who, according to unconfirmed reports, has decided to call it a day.

His absence was felt in defence as Luxol struggled to win rebounds underneath their board.

With both sides having several players missing, Luxol's Mark Micallef and Matthew Galea and Ian Terrible (Hamrun Liberty) made their debuts in the National League.

Hamrun Liberty, this season under the guidance of Kevin Decesare, were a disjointed lot early on.

With Azzopardi in good shooting form, Luxol charged into a 14-point lead, 22-8, as the second session got underway.

After several substitutions and with Albert Spiteri asserting his influence, Hamrun found their fighting spirit which helped them to hold a basket lead, 26-24, with a minute left for half-time. But it was Luxol who led 28-26 before the interval.

Hamrun continued to dictate matters at the start of the third session.

They seemed to have the match under control until three consecutive long-distance shots from Azzopardi helped Luxol close the gap to a single point - 51-50, for the last 10 minutes.

Luxol maintained their momentum in the early stages of the last session but Hamrun's last efforts edged them ahead 65-64 with less than 30 seconds left.

However, Azzopardi rounded a fine afternoon by potting the final basket which gave Luxol full points.

Luxol: D. Falzon 12, M. Mercieca 5, R. Azzopardi 38, M. Micallef, M. Galea, B. Micallef Trigona, R. Dalli, A. Bianchi, M. Cremona 3, S. Cassar 8.

Hamrun: S. Pace 17, D. Camilleri 11, A. Spiteri 15, A. Tabone 10, I. Terrible, J. Jetsen 4, P. Ferrante 7, C. Griscti, A. Sultana, K. Borg 1.