La Salle, Kavallieri on maximum points

The men's league resumed last Saturday at the University Sports Complex with two interesting matches.

La Salle Nespak 19
Aloysians ProMinent 18

In the day's top billing, La Salle and Aloysians crossed swords in a crucial encounter that resulted in a very narrow win for Alan Grima's team. As for Milos Stanisavljevic's Aloysians, this was certainly a bad take-off as the reigning champions are still in search of their first points.

Within minutes of the game La Salle were leading 2-0.

At this stage it was evident that they were the better side. However, Aloysians did not lay back and as both teams kept cancelling out each others' goals until Aloysians managed to level terms at 7-7 and also led for the first time, 8-7.

Aloysians' goals seemed to spark off a strong La Salle reaction as by half time they scored four times without reply to leave the court with an 11-8 advantage.

The balance prevailed after the break with La Salle 16-14 in front 15 minutes from the end. Aloysians were never going to throw in the towel though and minutes later they tied the game at 17-17, a result that gave way to a thrilling finale.

Renzo Kerr Cumbo put La Salle ahead 18-17 with Roberto Ragonesi immediately replying for Aloysians. Dimitar Milev then scored his 10th goal, and undoubtedly the team's most important one, to land all three points for La Salle among the great joy of the La Salle clan at the end of the match.

Best player: Dimitar Milev (La Salle).

Salesians 19
Kavallieri Kia 25

Kavallieri notched their second win of the season to go top of the standings alongside La Salle. For Salesians, this was definitely a marked improvement over the performance against La Salle.

Kavallieri had their two foreign players, Daniel Suleiman and Somon Bertiard, in superb form and scored nine goals each.

Salesians had an encouraging start but five consecutive goals without reply heralded Kavallieri's strong comeback. Salesians never yielded though and up to half-time Kavallieri were only enjoying a slender 13-12 advantage.

Upon resumption, it was evident that Salesians were now struggling to maintain the pace. Mark Farrugia's team gradually extended their lead as the outcome of the match became clearer until eventually Kavallieri wrapped it up with a 25-19 win.

Best player: Chris Suleiman (Kavallieri).

Standings: Kavallieri, La Salle 6 points; Aloysians, Salesians 0.