Hibernians 69
Cynergi Depiro 68
(16-18, 24-7, 17-21, 12-22)
With two minutes from half-time and the score 40-16 for Hibernians, few people would have even thought that this game would end with a minimal one point margin.
Yet this was the case in this encounter that had different significant facets.
The first quarter was a totally balanced affair with Hibs having the first small leads with Chad Patus grabbing his only six points of the game and Depiro replying mainly through David Bugeja and Kurt Xuereb.
A three-pointer from Xuereb put Depiro 16-13 ahead in the ninth minute but then the same side faced a dearth of points for the next ten minutes whilst Hibernians cruised to 27 consecutive points including downtown shots from youngsters Luke Farrugia and Simon Attard as well as Spaniard Alvaro Lizaur.
A time-out called by Depiro’s new Serbian coach Marko Zloh helped Depiro to find their way back to the basket and they closed the first half with seven consecutive points for a 25-40 scoreline at the interval.
The margin between the two sides did not alter for the first eight minutes of the second half as Hibs controlled the proceedings.
Yet Depiro had another good reaction after a time out and two back to back treys from Bugeja set them going to reduce the margin to a single digit, 46-57, with ten minutes to go.
Depiro’s definite comeback arrived midway into the last quarter as an Alvaro Quiros hoop was followed by two treys from forward Dominic Scafidi and Xuereb tied the score at 66-all with less than two minutes to go.
Marko Matijevic banked a close-range shot off the glass and then the ex-Manchester Magic power forward Lizaur converted one free throw from two to help Hibs open a 69-66 lead after Depiro lost their top scorer Bugeja with five fouls.
However Depiro did have the last possession in the dying seconds but, after a long cross court pass, captain Andrew Aquilina only scored a close range lay up instead of attempting a possible game-tying trey leading Hibs to breathe a sigh of relief as they registered their first win of the season.
Hibs: R. Vella 16, P. Attard, K. Caruana, L. Farrugia 13, S. Attard 4, I. Bonett, A. Axiaq 3, M. Matijevic 9, C. Patus 6, F. Mariani 6, A. Lizaur 12
Depiro: E. Briffa, D. Bugeja 25, M. Agius, A. Aquilina 8, N. Grech, A. Attard, M. Mallia 2, A. Quiros 6, K. Xuereb 16, M. Borg, D. Scafidi 11
Referees: E. Mangani, I. Simic, Z. Dobrosavljevic.
Starlites GIG 62
BUPA Luxol 81
(17-26, 25-14, 10-19, 10-22)
A strong 18-2 run in the first part of the last quarter paved the way for BUPA Luxol’s second win of the season and the first in the Shield competition, which this year has a double elimination format.
Starlites, now under the direction of coach Nedeljko Ninkovic, had a good start with new signing Shawn Pace, formerly of Floriana, grabbing the first hoop.
Sean Borg and Nikola Andrejevic also joined Starlites from Floriana last summer whilst Julian Wait came from Gżira Athleta whilst Robert Bonnici returned after a one year spell at Depiro.
Six minutes into the game Starlites had a 13-8 lead with their 6’8” American import Mitchell Brewe also notching his first points in Malta.
Luxol’s reply was a 15-0 run starting off with a trey from young Keith Dimech who had another positive showing after the Super Cup final seven days earlier as he also contributed with a total personal tally of 18 points.
The rest of Luxol’s points in this run came from their foreign duo Swede William Ahlberg and American Kyle Meyer.
Despite suddenly facing a double digit deficit, 15-26, Starlites did fight back and managed to even overturn the score with an 18-4 run spread over five minutes in between quarters and later even had a maximum six-point lead, 38-32.
The half time buzzer had the two sides separated by a single basket, 42-40.
But Luxol were quick to regain their lead when play restarted as slowly they started distancing themselves once again with further points from Ahlberg, Dimech and Meyer.
When the last quarter got under way, Starlites did try to recover and a three-point play from Brewe brought them just 55-59 away but Luxol set off on the important 18-2 game winning run as Meyer found also more space after Brewe had to bow out with five personal fouls midway in the quarter.
Starlites: S. Pace 9, M. Azzopardi, R. Bonnici 8, A. Schembri, S. Borg 2, M. Falzon, A. Felice Pace 6, R. Carabott 9, O. Psaila, N. Andrejevic 3, J. Wait 2, M. Brewe 23
Luxol: M. Sjoberg, N. Vasovic 4, J.
Maistre Melillo, JP Schembri 3, K.
Dimech 21, W. Ahlberg 17, K. Meyer 36, S. Cappello
Referees: B. Vassallo, G. Barbara, T. Mantere.