Holders Luxol sweat for place in final

Bupa Luxol 69
Siġġiewi Smina 66
(15-17, 26-14, 15-22, 13-13)

Though Siġġiewi outpointed Luxol in two quarters and managed to even the fourth one, their effort was still not enough to eliminate the holders from the cup final which will be played on March 31.

While Luxol had rebounder Dirk Schembri back in the squad after missing the last five games, Siġġiewi still had to do without injured playmaker Louis Camilleri while the influential Peter Shoults was not 100 per cent fit.

Contrary to their previous outings this season, Siġġiewi had a strong start against Luxol whose coach, John Tabone, wisely opted for an early time-out to halt his opponents' stride.

Siġġiewi finished the first 10 minutes leading 17-15.

Luxol were a different lot in the next quarter and led 27-23 after the first five minutes. With Shoults on the bench, Peter Farrugia's men lost their plot to fall 38-27 behind. They were unable to recover till half-time, 41-31.

That bad patch eventually proved costly for Siġġiewi even though they showed better qualities after the break to narrow the gap to 56-53 for the last ten minutes.

With neither side unable to impose any kind of superiority on court, Siġġiewi lost pivot Jide Jetsen for a fifth foul, a harsh decision for many at the pavilion as it looked that Luxol's Marko Matijevic had committed the infringement.

Siġġiewi kept battling on, however, and had a chance to level in the last two minutes but Shoults missed one of his two free-throws.

Luxol were also erratic from the free-throw line with Siġġiewi holding possession in the last five seconds but Adrian Micallef missed his shot to force extra time.

Luxol: R. Dalli, M. Mercieca 6, R. Azzopardi 16, M. Micallef, A. Borg 12, A. Portelli 10, N. Vasovic, T. Paris, D. Schembri 6, M. Matijevic 19.

Siġġiewi: M. Pajec, J. Doughty 5, E. Xuereb, I. Mercieca 8, P. Shoults 3, J.P. Bonnici 5, A. Micallef 25, P. Volovic 11, J. Jetsen 9.

Referees: B. Vassallo, A. Carbonaro, C. Terribile.

Compleet IS SW 128
Qormi 43
(33-6, 30-13, 33-8, 32-16)

Compleet IS SW registered the highest score of the season when they pulverised Qormi who were shorn of some key players in their squad.

Qormi coach Alfred Mifsud fielded some interesting, but inexperienced, youngsters in his team and Compleet profited to change ends 63-19 in front.

Compleet barely broke a sweat and continued to dominate after the interval. In the end, it was no surprise that they surpassed the 100-point mark in the opening minutes of the last quarter.

Compleet: M. Naudi 30, J. Naudi 12, D. Camilleri 18, E. Bezzina 2, J. Valdisere 10, O. Said 16, C. Calleja 2, A. Bonnici 6, K. Baldacchino 14, S. Cassar 18.

Qormi: G. Borg, J. Sant, A. Baldacchino 9, J. Anastasi 10, D. Debattista, A. Tabone 10, K. Borg, A. Axiaq 8, M. Mattil 6.

Referees: G. Barbara, J.P. Sammut, S. Micallef.

Powerade League

Thursday: 18.15 Depiro vs Compleet; 19.45 Bupa vs Qormi.