As expected, favourites Athleta A-Z Electronics claimed their fourth honour of the season after dethroning Siġġiewi Derby to claim the championship crown for the eighth time in their history.
Beaten finalists BUPA Luxol were no match for Joe Galea’s Athleta who also won the MBA Shield, the Super Cup and the KO competition this season.
BUPA Luxol 55
Athleta A to Z Electronics 76
(10-21, 16-15, 15-24, 14-16)
Athleta underlined their superiority in the championship this season as they clinched the league title in two games from the best-of-three series. The new champions never yielded an inch in the finals after losing twice to Luxol in the Championship Pool phase.
The match had an unexpected start as it was John Tabone’s men who held the initiative to obtain the first five points. But, Athleta soon clicked into gear and after coach Galea called a time-out, his players applied the full-court press module to perfection.
That move left the desired effect as Luxol stumbled and lost possession on several occasions. Athleta recovered possession and mounted fast breaks to hit the last 13 points of the first quarter which they won 21-10.
The two-minute interval allowed Luxol to surpass their difficult moment and they shared the exchanges with Athleta till half-time – 36-26.
Luxol started the third session on a positive note and closed the gap to seven points, 37-30.
Athleta regrouped as Galea ordered his men to adopt tight marking tactics on their opponents, particularly Petar Apcev. That was followed by some good attacking moves for Athleta to regain the upperhand and start the last 10 minutes 60-41 ahead.
The contest was over at that juncture as Luxol never gave the impression that they could recover from that deficit. Athleta preserved their lead to secure the win they needed to the sheer delight of their supporters in the stands.
Luxol: C. Cordina, M. Mercieca 3, R. Azzopardi 6, A. Micallef Trigona 2, P. Apcev 10, A. Costa, N. Vasovic 15, T. Paris, A. Cremona 9, E. Caruana Montaldo, J.P. Bonnici 10.
Athleta: M. Naudi 22, J. Zammit, E. Bezzina 8, D. Schembri 8, O. Said 14, A. Bonnici 10, K. Baldacchino, A. Ryan, S. Schembri 14.
Referees: E. Mangani, A. Carbo-naro, C. Terribile.
Next fixtures
Detur Cup SFs: (Wednesday) 19.15 Athleta vs Depiro, 21.00 Siġġiewi vs Luxol. Final: Saturday, 19.00.