Siggiewi beat Pembroke to stop negative trend

Pembroke Tumas GR. 52
Siggiewi 71
(12-15, 9-21, 15-15, 16-20)

In their fourth consecutive attempt, Siggiewi at last lowered the colours of Pembroke Tumas Group in a final to lift the MBA Shield on Sunday for the third time in their history. The last time Siggiewi won a major honour was the Shield way back in 1996.

Siggiewi had already beaten Pembroke by a sizeable margin in the qualifying round of the competition but were seeking to make up for losing the league and KO last year and the Super Cup last month against the Reds.

Pembroke sorely missed forward Duncan Cuschieri and had no reply to Siggiewi's attack ploys. Joe Galea's main weapon, the defence, was not at its best and the team failed to control Siggiewi's rebounding power with Jeffrey Gatt causing havoc and opening the way for his team's victory.

Ray Muscat's side showed im-provement in defence and offered little space for Pembroke duo Omar Said and Michael Naudi. They took an early lead and continued to dictate play until the break as they led 36-21.

After the interval, Pembroke gave the impression that they could re-open the game, potting six consecutive points 36-27. But Siggiewi surpassed this bleak moment only for Gatt to be substituted after losing composure and Pembroke getting closer - 52-44 - with six minutes left.

But here, five consecutive points from Adrian Micallef and Nathan Farrugia's four three-pointers quashed Pembroke's hopes as Siggiewi broke their duck to land the MBA Shield in a convincing way.

Pembroke: M. Naudi 11, J. Naudi 7, P. Abela 2, E. Bezzina 13, M. Borg, O. Said 10, J.P. Azzopardi, T. Degiorgio 4, J. Ransley 2, G. Cassar 3.

Siggiewi: D. Agius, M. Pisani, J. Doughty, A. Borg 4, N. Farrugia 23, A. Portelli 6, A. Micallef 18, R. Mifsud, S. Cauchi, J. Gatt 20.

Next fixtures (Kinnie League): Saturday - 5 p.m. Stingers vs Pembroke. Sunday - 4.15 p.m. Luxol vs Siggiewi.

Women's League - Hibs Go Mobile surprised

Naxxar Danone could not have hoped for a better start to their league commitments after beating Hibs Go Mobile. Champions Depiro Still started on the right foot by beating Hamrun Tivoli while Luxol Vodafone had the better of Gozo.

Hibs were the better team in the first session to hold a 27-14 lead but after sharing the exchanges in the second period, Naxxar's comeback efforts seemed to have taken a downward trend when Hibs potted the first eight points after the interval - 43-25.

This was a difficult phase for Naxxar but with Hibs messing up matters in the zone, Stephen Buttigieg's girls regrouped their forces to close the gap at 65-61.

And, with only a minute left, Hibs paid dearly for their poor play when Naxxar adopted a full court press which reaped the desired dividends as they beat their more quoted opponents 68-65.

Depiro, after an uninspiring first session, took control in the next quarter to lead 28-15 at half-time against Hamrun. Depiro never looked back and cantered home to a 71-40 win. Their title defence started on a good note.

For the first three sessions Luxol found the going tough against Gozo and only led 32-29 before the last session began. Here, Luxol woke up and for Gozo there was little they could do to avoid a 51-33 victory for Kevin Zammit's girls.

Next fixtures: Friday - Luxol vs Hibs. Saturday - 3.15 p.m. Kerygma vs Hamrun. Sunday - 9.15 a.m. Depiro vs Gozo.