The final day of the BOV Men’s League regular season was played over the weekend and now all the main attention turns towards the play-off series which will commence as from tomorrow with the first of the semi-final series on a best-of-three format.

The final day had Hibernians ascertain themselves of topping the standings, after their success over BUPA Luxol, to now face fourth-placed Floriana MCP Car Parks in the first semi-finalpairing.

The Greens closed off their regular season campaign with a win over Depiro whilst in the third game, Starlites GIG comfortably beat Balkan Fusion and will now face Gzira Athleta in the other semi-final.

The last day of the 2018-19 regular season also contained a special occasion with the official retirement of the long-serving Luxol boy at heart John Tabone.

In fact, the veteran Luxol mentor announced that he was calling it a day with the weekend’s match against Hibs being his swansong game.

Tabone had been actively involved for half a decade in 1,000 games both as a player and later as the head coach.

He was also in charge of the  national team for a number of years, including as coach of the 1985 Malta side which won the bronze medal in the inaugural San Marino Games of the Small States of Europe – the first ever medal won by Malta in these Games.

Later in 1991, Tabone was named the Sport Official of the Year.

From this column, congratulations go to John Tabone for his long career within the basketball circles.

Bupa Luxol 65
Hibernians 84

(17-20, 23-23, 13-24, 12-17)

The last part of the third quarter was the turning point of this game as up to that stage BUPA Luxol were right into the game, trailing merely by two points, 44-46.

Here, Hibs stepped up their shooting accuracy and managed to open a double-digit lead after a 13-3 run.

A further 8-0 stretch early in the fourth quarter then closed the game definitely.

After notching an early trey through Jean Paul Schembri, Luxol had Vukasin Jandric leading the way offensively as the Violets enjoyed an early lead only for Hibs to overturn the score late in the first quarter with nine consecutive points as Alvaro Lizaur and Ivan Demcesen shared these baskets.

Luxol, also playing without Felip Sekulic, managed to regain a slender lead in the second quarter after a Marco Mercieca and-one play and later, despite a series of points at the other end from the tall Demcesen, after three straight back-to-back free throws from Jandric for 36-34.

Another nine-point Hibs run helped the Paolites to close off the first half 43-40 ahead.

Midway in the third quarter Hibs started distancing themselves as Chad Patus, Luca Tardito and Luke Farrugia set the positive run going as Hibs then commenced the final session leading 67-53.

When Hibs increased the margin to 20 points, 75-55, following eight points at stretch, the game was done with.

Both sides then shared the closing minutes of the game before saluting and bidding a deserved farewell to Luxol’s coach John Tabone.

Luxol: V. Jandric 35, P. Engelbert 6, L. Caruana Montaldo, JP Schembri 5, W. Ahlberg 9, D. Schembri 4, M. Mercieca 6, S. Cappello.

Hibs: R. Vella 3, M. Attard,  K. Sultana, L. Farrugia 3, M. Formosa, I. Bonett 4, L. Tardito 16, A. Axiaq 2, M. Matijevic 4, A. Lizaur 13, I. Demcesen 28, C. Cuschieri Patus 11.

Referees: T. Mantere, K. Dworniczak, M. Hraisha.

Floriana 116
Depiro 82

(33-20, 26-18, 22-27, 35-17)

These two sides already knew their fate ahead of this game.

Floriana were assured of a play-off spot, having guaranteed the fourth place in the league table in the previous rounds, whilst Depiro knew this was to be their last seasonal outing after having, similar to Luxol and Balkan Fusion, missed the play-off train.

Depiro were also without two of their import players, Trent Steen and Keshaun Hamilton. These two Americans returned back home along the week, shortly after Depiro’s close defeat in the KO final against Hibs.

Despite this win, Floriana have some worries as they lost David Bugeja very early in the game after apparently having an ankle-related injury.

The Greens set off in a good manner as Ian Theisen and Kurt Xuereb shared three early baskets and then Kieron Caruana, who had a fine shooting day ending as the game’s top scorer, notched his first two treys.

Depiro, however, were still trying to pierce Floriana’s defence and an initial Nicholas Grech long-distance shot set them going. Then it was Jack Nygaard who was leading the side, also with help underneath the boards from Adam Chomo whose basket, late in the first quarter, made it a momentary two-point game, 20-18.

It was here that Gael Hulsen scored a series of points to help Floriana to a 33-20 lead.

Then, in the second quarter a 20-5 stretch helped Kristin Baldacchino’s side to open a comfortable 59-36 lead with Estonian Kevin Liivamagi, Spaniard Igancio Arias and David Agius also netting points.

The start of the second half had Depiro with a 10-2 run but Floriana were quick to reply as Shaun Pace started and concluded an 11-point stretch.

The last minutes of the third quarter witnessed some fine shooting from Depiro as they amassed a total of five straight treys through Grech, Chomo and Nygaard yet Floriana were always in the driving seat.

In the last quarter, many bench players had playing time with the game becoming an open one with not much defensive pressure.

Floriana managed to surpass the century mark through Arias midway in the quarter and kept on increasing their winning margin till the final buzzer.

Floriana: S. Pace 5, D. Bugeja, K. Caruana 28, K. Liivamagi 14, I. Arias 13, I. Theisen 22, K. Xuereb 11, G. Hulsen 13, D. Agius 10.

Depiro: J. Attard, D. Farrugia 8, M. Mallia 2, N. Grech 15, M. Brincat, M. Borg 5, J. Nygaard 25, A. Chomo 27, A. Attard.

Referees: B. Vassallo, K. Dworniczak, C. Xuereb.

Starlites Gig 97
Balkan Fusion 56

(30-15, 24-7, 16-16, 27-18)

Starlites GIG registered a comfortable victory over Balkan Fusion to boost their preparations ahead of their semi-final series against Gżira Athleta.

Three treys, through William Darley, Robert Bonnici and Nick Formosa, set Starlites off in the very early stages with Matthew Scerri then extending their early lead to 13-2.

Baskets from Nikola Bozovic and Anthony Schembri did close down, albeit momentarily, the gap to 10-15 for Balkan Fusion.

But Starlites kept on pounding the pressure through Jordan Stotts and Ian Felice Pace along with treys from Scerri, Bonnici, Ryan Carabott and Darley for 38-20.

Despite committing some unpressured turnovers, through lax play, Starlites still managed to close off the first half with 16 consecutive points.

The third quarter had 32 points shared equally between the two sides with Balkan having a good start, also with some fine moves from Miguel Gauci Montaldo.

But then Starlites got their own later in the quarter with Cameron Ward and Stotts sharing most of the points.

The game was already a foregone conclusion with Balkan having baskets from Bozovic and Nikola Komienic, the latter then having to leave the court after two major fouls.

At the other end, Starlites were still piling up the points but then stopped short of obtaining the century in the last stages of the game.

Starlites: A. Felice Pace 3, N. Formosa 15, R. Bonnici 11, I. Felice Pace 2, C. Ward 18, M. Falzon 2, M. Scerri 11, R. Carabott 7, W. Darley 15, J. Stotts 13.

Balkan: N. Bozovic 18, A. Schembri 12, M. Gauci Montaldo 7, S. Todorovic 5, N. Komienic 12, N. Kovacevic 2.

Referees: B. Vassallo, D. Torok, I. Simic.

Final standings: Hibernians (10-2) 22; Starlites GIG (9-3) 21; Gżira Athleta (8-4) 20; Floriana (7-5) 19; BUPA Luxol (4-8) 16; Depiro (3-9) 15; Balkan Fusion (0-12) 10.

Note: Balkan Fusion forfeit two points, having given two walk-overs.