BUPA Luxol and Floriana Royce became the first teams to reach the semi-finals of the St James Hospital Shield. Floriana were not in action last weekend while Luxol secured their last-four berth after condemning Pavi Depiro to their second defeat. In Group B, Starlites surprised Siġġiewi Remax.

Starlites 61
Siġġiewi Remax 56

(17-12, 14-22, 10-12, 20-10)

After their opening defeat to Athleta A to Z Electronics, Starlites bounced back to surprise the more-quoted Siġġiewi.

Ray Muscat’s side prevailed thanks to their better teamwork and ability to hold their nerve in delicate moments of the game.

More was expected from Siġ-ġiewi. Most of their players either lost their composure or tried to be too individualistic.

Karl Borg was making his debut as coach of Siġġiewi’s senior side.

He experienced mixed emotions during the game but several substitutions in key moments and chan-ges in defence didn’t help his team’s cause.

Marco Todorovic’s baskets helped Starlites to take the initiative as they led 17-12 at the end of the first quarter.

The second session saw Starlites retain their lead but when Siġġiewi switched to zone defence, Starlites struggled. Siġġiewi took full advantage to change ends 34-31 ahead.

With both sides finding it difficult to pot points in the third quarter, Siġġiewi managed to start the last 10 minutes 46-41 ahead.

Siġġiewi failed to maintain their momentum as the final quarter got underway. Seven consecutive points put Starlites 48-46 in front as Siġġiewi’s change to individual marking afforded more space to Todorovic.

A time-out and substitutions benefited Siġġiewi as they over-hauled the deficit thanks to Lee Ross’s three-pointer.

But Robert Bonnici had other ideas as his three-pointer handed the lead back to Starlites.

This unsettled Siġġiewi who compounded matters for them-selves by resorting to solo moves which failed to reap the desired rewards.

Four consecutive free-throws by Bonnici sealed Starlites’ win as Siġġiewi looked doomed.

Starlites: M. Todorovic 25, R. Loporto 7, R. Bonnici 21, P. Massa, S. Bonnici, A. Schembri 8, B. Soler, A. Cutajar, C. Azzopardi.

Siġġiewi: G. Coleiro 2, A. Debattista 2, S. Sammut 11, C. Sammut 11, S. Masco 2, L. Camilleri 4, A. Borg 2, L. Ross 5, J.P. Antoncich, N. Falzon, K. Godomaris, M. Matijevic 17.

Referees: B. Vassallo, E. Mangani, C. Terribile.

Pavi Depiro 59
Bupa Luxol 71

(10-17, 19-11, 18-24, 12-19)

As expected, Depiro, with no foreign players in their ranks, found the going tough with Luxol’s Michael Mejer Kritt catching the attention by contributing more than half of his team’s points.

Although Depiro gave a good account of themselves in certain periods of the game, they could not match Luxol’s shooting.

After Luxol raced to a 17-2 lead, Depiro improved to narrow the gap to seven points by the end of the first quarter.

Depiro continued were they left off as the second session began, opening a basket lead 23-21.

Luxol came through this difficult moment to reduce the arrears to a single point at the interval, 29-28.

Luxol were more determined at the start of the third quarter. Their improved display saw them build an 11-point advantage, 44-33.

Depiro made a reaction to close the gap to five points, 52-47, going into the last 10 minutes.

Hard as they tried, Depiro could not cancel out the deficit and were duly punished in the last minutes as Luxol took control to secure victory.

Depiro: R. Vella 3, B. Zammit 2, N. Sultana 2, A. Aquilina 8, A. Portelli 16, A. Axiaq 8, E. Lupo 4, I. Tanti 16, M. Mallia.

Luxol: C.J. Cordina 2, M. Mercieca 1, A. Micallef 8, E. Bonello, N. Andrevic, J.P. Schembri 2, N. Vasovic 15, T. Paris, M. Mejer Kritt 38, J. Willoughny, J.P. Bonnici 1, S. Calpello 4.

Referees: E. Mangani, C. Terribile, L. Camilleri.

Next fixtures
Sunday: 13.00 Siġġiewi vs Athleta; 16.30 Luxol vs Floriana.

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