Falken Cynergi Virtus 97
Floriana Café Del Mar 59
(25-14, 24-16, 21-11, 27-18)
Falken Cynergi Virtus are on course to capture their third honour of the season after cruising to an emphatic 97-59 win over Floriana Cafè Del Mar in the first leg of the Louis Borg Cup final on Sunday.
The champions will now take a 38-point advantage into the second leg, being played tomorrow at 4.30pm.
While Virtus’s performance on Sunday showed that they have put their defeat to Gżira Athleta in the BOV Knock-Out final behind them, Floriana seem to have lost their form.
Nicholas Vasovic’s return from suspension was seen as a boost for the Greens but they looked out of touch throughout the first leg with several players performing below their usual standards.
It was only Chad Patus who troubled the Virtus defence but Floriana’s shooting was poor.
The Greens’ cause was not helped by the fact that they gave up too early while their opponents grew in confidence.
Floriana led 9-7 in the opening minutes but Virtus stepped up a gear to pot 13 points without reply, 20-9.
The Greens overcame this difficult moment to regain their rhythm till the end of the quarter, 25-14.
Until midway into the second period, Floriana managed to share the exchanges, 35-24, but Virtus piled up the pressure as they capitalised on their opponents’ erratic shooting to change ends 49-30 ahead.
With Floriana failing to stage a reaction after the interval, Virtus first preserved their advantage before inflicting further damage on the slow-recovering Greens through fast play.
Virtus extended their lead to 70-41 ahead of the final 10 minutes.
Floriana looked demoralised while Virtus continued to apply the pressure to increase their advantage and boost their chances of winning the Louis Borg Cup.
Virtus: S. Pace 3, D. Bugeja 14, R. Bonnici 10, D. Camilleri 13, J. Formosa 19, A. Felice Pace, C. Santo 28, L. Sobers, F. Bartolo, P. Shoults 10, T. Grech.
Floriana: C. Patus 34, M. Borg, L. Ross, N. Sultana 11, S. Borg 8, A. Portelli, N. Vasovic 4, C. Calleja, A. Axiaq 2, A. Micallef Trigona.
Referees: E. Mangani, A. Carbonaro, Z. Dobroseljevic.