Floriana MCP Car Parks 83
Hibernians 64
(22-17, 17-14, 17-17, 27-16)
Floriana MCP Car Parks booked their place in the play-offs after beating Hibernians, the latter seeing their last chance to make it to the post-regular season vanish as they required an 11-point win to surpass their opponents in the league standings.
Hibs did manage to overcome a slow start, falling 13-2 behind after four minutes, to keep in contact with the Greens for 36 minutes of play despite having to see their season top scorer, Alvaro Lizaur, leave the court through injury early in the second quarter.
However Floriana, led by a great shooting display from Chad Patus who had a seasonal high 42 points, sealed off the match with a strong 12-0 in the next two minutes.
Hibs came closest at 38-39 just after the interval following five consecutive points from Simon Attard. However, three hoops from Anton Axiaq distanced Floriana once again and they maintained the margin until the final decisive run late in the game.
With just one round of games to go, to be played this weekend, the top four teams are now known although the placings are still to be decided.
Floriana now meet Depiro and they could leapfrog from fourth to a higher spot with a five-point winning margin.
On the other hand, a Depiro win can keep them in top position if both Gżira Athleta and BUPA Luxol win, but would place them second, behind Athleta, if BUPA Luxol fail to win against Hibs on Sunday.
Athleta play first – against Starlites tomorrow.
A win can give them either the second or first placing but a loss can move them down to third, if Luxol and Depiro win. If both the latter teams lose, there will be four teams tied.
That scenario would see Depiro in top spot and Floriana down to fourth.
Floriana: C. Patus 42, S. Pace 9, S. Borg, N. Vasovic 15, C. Calleja 2, A. Axiaq 13, A. Micallef Trigona, N. Andrejevic 2.
Hibernians: M. Hampton, E. Xuereb, L. Farrugia 2, S. Attard 12, I. Bonett 2, A. Micallef 14, M. Matijevic 20, S. Vella, F. Mariani 6, A. Lizaur 8.
Referees: E. Mangani, C. Farrugia and Z. Dobrosavljevic.
Standings
Cynergi Depiro (6-3) 15; Gżira Athleta (6-3) 15; BUPA Luxol (6-3) 15; Floriana (5-4) 14; Hibernians (2-7) 11; Starlites (2-7) 11.