Holders Siggiewi start with a win

Siggiewi Smina started their MBA Shield title defence with a victory over newly-promoted Mellieha SVS Reflections. Compleet IS SW, the 2006/07 league champions, started their season in style following a victory over rivals BUPA Luxol.

Siggiewi Smina 61
Mellieha SVS 46
(19-8, 15-12, 12-13, 15-13)

Siggiewi started strongly, giving the modest Mellieha side very little chance to settle down in this match.

The holders had various players from last season missing including towering duo A. Spiteri and A. Huizer.

At times, Siggiewi were unable to force their superiority underneath the boards as Jide Jetsen, formerly of Luxol, was having a fine debut for his new club Mellieha along with playmaker Chris Sammut who joined from Luxol.

Siggiewi could not have had a better start as they took a 19-2 lead.

Then, they lifted their foot off the accelerator, allowing their opponents back in the game as Mellieha were only 19-14 behind after three minutes of the second quarter.

But Siggiewi soon shifted into top gear to change ends 34-20 ahead.

Both sides were erratic in their shooting as Siggiewi still managed to preserve their lead and start the last ten minutes 46-33 ahead. They found little difficulty in controlling Mellieha's efforts to start their season on a sound footing.

Siggiewi: B. Zammit 2, L. Camilleri 5, D. Camilleri 14, J. Doughty, A. Portelli 10, L. Camilleri, P. Scholts 15, J.P. Bonnici 2, A. Bonnici 11, J.P. Antoncich, I. Stefanovic 2.

Mellieha: S. Magro, J. Naudi 12, S. Grima, E. Xuereb, C. Sammut 11, J. Muscat, D. Aquilina, J. Aquilina 2, M. Pisani 2, T. Degiorgio 4, J. Jetsen 12, R. Loporto 3.

Refs: E. Mangani, S. Micallef.

Compleet IS SW 66
BUPA Luxol 54
(7-13, 16-6, 21-20, 22-15)

Sliema took their time to get going but once they did, after adopting a more aggressive and organised defence, they were soon back to the old winning form and in command of play as Luxol were denied a way through a solid fortress.

Though missing the services of Omar Said and Duncan Cuschieri, Sliema potted the first points.

Luxol, now without playmaker Chris Sammut, were finding it hard to organise their play as Alan Borg's absence was sorely felt.

However, new signing Marko Matijevic looks to be an ideal replacement for Jide Jetsen and will surely be an asset for Luxol.

In the first quarter, Luxol had a 13-0 run and led 13-5 at one point.

But Sliema, with Etienne Bezzina marking his presence on court with a three-pointer, tightened their play and with Luxol messing up things in attack they fell behind 19-23 at the interval.

Sliema looked the better side and led 44-39 at the start of the last quarter.

Luxol were slow-moving in their zone defence cover as Compleet IS completed the job with a series of successful tries from the three-point line.

Sliema: M. Naudi 18, J. Zammit, C. Calleja, E. Bezzina 14, J. Galea, T. Riolo 4, A. Micallef 18, K. Baldacchino 8, S. Cassar 4, R. Mifsud.

Luxol: R. Dalli, M. Mercieca 3, R. Azzopardi 16, M. Micallef, S. Mizzi, A. Bianchi 4, M. Bonnici, T. Paris, D. Schembri 7, E. Caruana Montaldo, M. Matijevic 17, S. Schembri 7.

Refs: B. Vassallo, J.P. Sammut.