Siġġiewi Derby 81
Loyola Tata Motors 45
(20-14, 22-9, 27-6, 12-16)

Siġġiewi Derby consolidated their second place in the men’s league after beating Loyola Tata Motors handsomely. This was the champions’ last match of the second round which will be com-pleted with the Luxol-Loyola fixture, still to be scheduled.

Much more was expected from Loyola but, it seems, the long break to solve a dispute that brought the league to a halt for almost a month, left a negative effect on the team.

For Siġġiewi, however, this was their third successive victory after the forced break was over.

The opening quarter was a ding-dong affair with Loyola taking an early lead but Siġġiewi hit back strongly with Marco Matijevic and Peter Shoults leading their charge.

The champions showed the better ideas in the final minutes of the quarter to take a 20-14 lead.

Peter Farrugia’s team held the initiative as the second session got underway to extend their advantage to 31-17, going on to change ends 42-23 ahead.

Loyola’s chances practically perished in the opening minutes after the interval when Siġġiewi potted 14 points in quick succession.

Coach Farrugia now opted to field his fringe players but Loyola still could not profit from the situation as Shoults continued to score useful points along with team-mates Lee Ross and Matijevic. All three finished with double-figure scores.

Siġġiewi: P. Shoults 18, J. Doughty, E. Xuereb 13, K. Borg 4, A. Borg 4, L. Ross 19, J. Jetsen 1, M. Matijevic 22.

Loyola: S. Pace 3, B. Zammit 16, D. Camilleri 8, J.P. Borg, M. Cilia 1, S. Vella, A. Axiaq 13, J. Mihailovic 2, J. Anastasi 2, J. Ransley, A. Tabone.

Refs: G. Barbara, E. Mangani, A. Carbonaro.

Standings: Athleta 16 (8-0), Siġ-ġiewi 13 (5-3), Luxol (3-4) 10, Depiro 10 (2-6), Loyola 8 (1-6).

Top scorers: M. Naudi (Athleta) 162, R. Vella (Depiro) 142, P. Apcev (Luxol) 139.

Top clash

Luxol won the clash for second place on Sunday when they had the better of reigning women’s champions Hibs Medsea.

In the main match of the weekend, Luxol moved to within a point of leaders Depiro McDonald’s as the first phase of the championship is nearing its end. More was expected from Hibs after winning the Louis Borg Cup the previous week but Winnie Buhagiar’s girls lacked ideas and looked rather slow in their movements.

The start saw Luxol open a slight lead which they held till the end of the first quarter, 10-6. Hibs then relied on the baskets of Joselle Cardona to go ahead for the first time only for Luxol to pot the last basket of the session and level matters at 18-all.

Luxol scored the opening seven points after the interval as Hibs suddenly lost their shooting touch.

In fact, their points at this juncture only came through free-throws as Luxol sped ahead to begin the last 10 minutes 36-25 ahead.

Hibs never gave the impression that they could recover. Their attacking manoeuvres were confused while Luxol, by contrast, held composure to secure a 40-33 win.

Despite playing without top scorer Kaila Agius, Depiro were never in trouble against bottom-placed Mtarfa.

The leaders took control from the opening minutes and led 44-14 at half-time. Though Mtarfa tried to put up a fight after the in-terval, Depiro were still the better team. They won the match with a convincing score of 77-38.

Loyola, meanwhile, struggled more than expected to beat Starlites Sport Experience and notch their seventh victory that momentarily took them into fourth place.

Starlites were 14-4 ahead at one point in the opening session but Loyola cancelled that deficit to change ends 17-all.

They continued with their good work after the interval, going 31-21 in front before staving off Starlites’ brave challenge for a 43-31 win.

Athleta had the influential Leanne Sciberras missing for their match against St Andrews who, amazingly, failed to pot a single point in the opening quarter but improved after that to close the gap to 17-13 at half-time.

Then, in the dying minutes of the third quarter, St Andrews for-ged ahead 28-24 but Athleta recovered strongly and a 13-3 break in the last five minutes paved the way for a 43-34 victory.

Top scorers: K. Agius (Depiro) 231, L. Bezzina (Hibs) 191, L. Sciberras (Athleta) 190.

Standings: Depiro McDonald’s 25 (12-1), Luxol 24 (11-2), Hibs Medsea 23 (10-3), Loyola 20 (7-6), Athleta 18 (6-6), Starlites 15 (2-11) Mtarfa 12 (0-12).

Next fixtures: (April 1) 18.15 Athleta vs Depiro, 19.45 Starlites vs St An-drews. (April 2) 15.45 Mtarfa vs Hibs. (April 3) 14.30 Luxol vs Loyola.