BUPA Luxol are the 'new' finalists of the Louis Borg Cup next weekend after the Malta Basketball Association (MBA) upheld their protest against the result of their semi-final defeat to Pembroke Tumas Group.

Luxol were awarded a 20-0 victory by the MBA Protests' Board, claiming the tie 96-77 on aggregate after Pembroke were found to have breached the competitions' rule regarding U-19 players during Saturday's first leg tie, won by Pembroke 50-44. The second leg on Sunday had also seen Pembroke emerging as winners by one point, 77-76.

MBA rules stipulate that every team must have an U-19 player on court for 20 minutes of a cup tie.

With only nine seconds left for the end of Saturday's match, Pembroke's youngster Matthew Zammit committed his fifth foul of the match and was replaced by a senior player.

In their protest, Luxol successfully argued that Pembroke should have continued the match with four men as they did not have another U-19 player to fill the void left by Zammit.

The MBA ruling means that Luxol will face Siggiewi in next weekend's two-legged final after the latter beat Hamrun Liberty 126-123.

Pembroke have until this evening to appeal the decision.

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