Match Day Four of the BOV Men’s League was played last weekend with Depiro picking up their second win of the season while Starlites broke their duck with their first victory. Thus, Gżira Athleta, albeit not in action, kept top spot in the standings. The league now takes a breather for the Louis Borg Cup qualifying matches which will be played between Friday and Sunday.

Depiro 84
Hibernians 82 

(18-19, 24-30, 22-12, 20-21)

Depiro registered an important win over Hibs, a success that led the Mtarfa-based side to join the same Paolites on two league wins albeit the latter having played a game more and are the first team to complete their first-round commitments.

This game was undecided right up until the final moments even if there were a couple of small, marginal leads along the way by both sides.

Hibs, again having to do without Swede William Ahlberg, had a slight upper edge in the first half only for Depiro to bounce back in the second.

A Kurt Xuereb trey opened the game only for Hibs to quickly reply and take a 13-8 lead midway in the first quarter with pivot Ivan Demcesen grabbing four successive points and David Bugeja netting a three-pointer.

A six-point run, with respective buckets off Quin Cooper, Michael Naudi and Marko Todorovic, was Depiro’s instant reaction but Hibs managed to re-establish a small lead with a good start in the second quarter as treys from Marco Matijevic and Luke Farrugia added with further Bugeja hoops moved them to a game high nine-point lead, 29-20.

A time-out helped Depiro to regain lost ground and four minutes later they managed to draw level at 38-38 but seven straight late first half points helped Hibs to go in for the half-time break enjoying a 49-42 lead.

Depiro’s best moment arrived midway in the third quarter when at 47-53 behind, they netted a 13-3 streak in four minutes of play, with Cooper laying in his jumpers assisted by Czech Adam Chomo, so as to overturn the score in their favour for the first time after the initial game basket.

Nicola Vasovic broke Hibs’ momentary point drought but Depiro still held on to enter for the last quarter with a small three-point lead, 64-61.

The final ten minutes of play were an open affair. Chomo helped Depiro to maintain marginal lead till half way in the last quarter but two Demcesen hoops had Hibs going slightly ahead.

A Miguel Brincat trey around two Chomo hoops had Depiro going 81-77 ahead in the last minute.

With seconds to go, Bugeja had the opportunity of an and-one but missed the resulting free throw as then Cooper coolly potted two free throws at the opposite end.

With a handful of seconds left, Matijevic netted a trey but Xuereb then ascertained Depiro’s victory with a late second free throw.

Depiro: M. Todorovic 8, Q. Cooper 31, M. Naudi 4, D. Farrugia 2, N. Grech, O. Said, K. Xuereb 18, M. Borg, M. Brincat 6, J. Attard, A. Chomo 15, A. Attard.

Hibs: P. Attard, D. Bugeja 20, K. Caruana, L. Farrugia 5, I. Bonett, N. Vasovic 14, A. Axiaq 2, M. Matijevic 17, M. Attard, C. Rowe 8, I. Demcesen 16.    

Referees: Z. Dobrosavljevic, I. Simic, L. Camilleri

Luxol 83
Starlites Gig 91   

(30-25, 15-28, 15-17, 23-21)

These two sides were searching for their first league victory and it was Starlites GiG that managed to achieve this after a game that had Luxol open with an early lead only for the Naxxar side to hit back strongly in the second quarter which resulted in the determining quarter in the game.

From then on, Starlites managed to hold on to a double-digit lead for most of the remaining time despite Luxol’s continuous efforts to come back in the game.

After setting off with hoops from Keith Dimech and Vukasin Jandric, Luxol started slightly distancing themselves after two Jean Paul Schembri three-pointers for a 22-15 lead.

Although Starlites’ two imports Konor Kulas and Jeremy Marseille tried to move Starlites closer, Luxol still maintained their margin with the first quarter ending with Starlites’ power forward Matthew Scerri netting a trey for a 30-25 score.

When play restarted, there was an important 12-point run by Starlites set off with a brace of Kulas hoops followed by an Alec Felice Pace jumper and treys from Scerri and Robert Bonnici.

Now seven points behind, Luxol tried to react and had a Francesco Mifsud Bonnici long distance shot.

But then Luxol lost centre Stefan Capello as the latter was disqualified for comments while being attended to for a nasty cut in the face after being incidentally hit on a Marseille penetration.

Kulas was calmly netting in the free throws and minutes later Bonnici helped his side to open a double-digit lead.

Although Luxol had three-pointers in the low scoring third quarter, Starlites still managed to even extend their lead to 14 points at 70-56.

Midway in the last rubber, despite Luxol’s efforts to claw themselves back into the game, Starlites were still holding to a double-digit lead.

Six consecutive points in slightly more than a minute put the Naxxar side firmly in the driving seat and further late points from Kulas, Marseille and Felice Pace moved them to a comfortable 91-74 lead.

In the final moments of the encounter, Luxol netted a nine point streak to make it a more respectable final score line.

Luxol: J. Cefai 3, V. Jandric 30, P. Engelbert, K. Gauci, F. Mifsud Bonnici 9, JP Schembri 20, K. Dimech 15, I. Pace 4, L. Trapani, S. Cappello 2.   

Starlites: A. Felice Pace 7, R. Bonnici 13, I. Felice Pace, M. Fabri, M. Falzon, M. Scerri 9, R. Carabott 5, K. Kulas 37, J. Marseille 20.

Referees: K. Dworniczak, I. Simic, S. Jafilica

Standings
Gżira Athleta (3-0) 6; Hibs (2-2) 6; Depiro (2-1) 5; Starlites GiG (1-2) 4; BUPA Luxol (1-2) 4; BUPA Luxol (0-3) 3.