The first honour of the Malta Basketball Association season will be decided tomorrow when the finals of the MBA Shield will take place at Ta' Qali.

Perennial rivals Pembroke and BUPA Luxol will contest the men's final. This match will be preceded by the women's showdown between Depiro Still and Naxxar Danone.

Tomorrow, Pembroke and Luxol, two teams widely expected to mount a strong challenge for the championship, have an early chance to size up each other in a potential mouth-watering clash. The winners will land a title last won by Siggiewi two seasons ago.

In the semi-finals, Pembroke proved too strong for a bolstered Hamrun side who had problems breaking down the solid defending of Joe Galea's team.

Last week, Luxol suffered a setback when Silvio Cassar sustained a leg injury. Coach John Tabone has a difficult task on his hands in finding a suitable replacement for his pivot. Precise shooting by the Luxol players is key to their chances of upsetting the strong Pembroke team.

Meanwhile, Naxxar, who served an early-season surprise when ousting favourites Hibernians in the semi-finals, will look to repeat the dose on women's champions Depiro.

However, their job will be an arduous one as they face a Rabat side made all the more stronger by the return of Josephine Grima and Rosanne Falzon.

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