Gżira Athleta 66
Hibernians 63

(20-12, 22-14, 12-21, 12-16)

With Gżira Athleta enjoying an extensive lead at 52-30 midway in the third quarter, many thought that the outcome of the game was a foregone conclusion, especially as the reigning champions were totally in control as from the latter stages of the first quarter.

However, Hibs made a remarkable comeback with an impressive 26-4 run in the space of the next eight playing minutes and managed to bring the game to a tied score, leaving everything undecided until the final buzzer.

The two sides had tipped off the league campaign with a win on the opening day after they also had respectively won an earlier seasonal honour.

The early moments of the game witnessed a balanced tussle until a respective trey from Connell Crossland and Luca Stefanovic helped Gżira, who had their first eight points coming off the in-form Nathan Xuereb, to close off the first quarter with a 20-12 lead.

A seven-point streak followed, shortly afterwards, with an eight-point run helped Gżira to extend their advantage further in the second quarter as they managed to go in for the interval leading 42-26.

The MBA Shield winners kept on pounding when play restarted and an Ian Theisen floater followed by a Shawn Pace trey had them 52-30 ahead.

A time-out called by the Paolites helped them to recoup their energy as they hit back strongly as David Bugeja, Nikola Vasovic and Chandler Rowe led their side, who earlier lost William Ahlberg yet again with his wrist injury, to a 17-2 run until the end of the third quarter.

Hibs’ momentum kept on going at the start of the final rubber and the Super Cup victors managed to tie the score, on two different occasions midway in the same period.

At 59-59, Gżira made the game winning streak as Theisen netted a hoop followed by Stefanovic’s third trey and Crossland made it a seven-point run with three minutes to go, the team’s last points in the game.

Hibs did reopen the game with a brace of Vasovic hoops but their final efforts to force overtime went off the mark and Gżira Athleta kept their winning start to the league campaign.

Gżira Athleta: E. Sciberras, M. Novakovic 2, C. Crossland 18, S. Pace 8, B. Zammit, P. Shoults 3, L. Stefanovic 11, S. Galea, N. Xuereb 17, I. Thiesen 7, E. Abela, R. Abela.

Hibs: W. Ahlberg 9, P. Attard, D. Bugeja 18, K. Caruana, L. Farrugia 6, I. Bonett 4, N. Vasovic 9, A. Axiaq 2, M. Matijevic, M. Attard, C. Rowe 11, I. Demcesen 4.   

Refs: G. Barbara, Z. Dobrosavljevic, L. Camilleri

Bupa Luxol 70
Depiro 87

(13-23, 17-16, 14-23, 26-25)

The first season encounter between these two sides resulted in Depiro’s first league win from two games whilst BUPA Luxol were featuring their opening league game.

Luxol, with a number of young inexperienced players in the squad, were led on the bench by Duncan Fenech who does not have an easy task to replace the previous play caller John Tabone but possesses technical potential acumen and discipline to direct his players.

The Violets took a very early lead with a Vukasin Jandric jumper and a Francesco Mifsud Bonnici free throw but Depiro got their first bucket after two minutes through Michael Naudi and then Marko Todorovic, Kurt Xuereb and Quinn Cooper set off a good patch leading to a 16-7 lead.

Although Jandric and Keith Dimech were trying hard to keep Luxol at close bay, Depiro moved to a double-digit lead by the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter resulted in a very balanced one as Luxol had treys off Dimech, Jandric and Jean Paul Schembri while Depiro’s Cooper kept on pounding his floaters assisted by under the board work from Adam Chomo.

The game started taking a definite twist after the interval when the Mtarfa side extended their lead with a nine-point run midway in the third quarter as their edge in experience started showing. With Cooper banging in from mid-range, Todorovic, Naudi and Chomo were making good use of their advantage under the boards.  

Going into the last rubber with an 18-point cushion, Depiro administered the last quarter proceedings even if Luxol had their best offensive patch also managing to close off the game with four three-pointers.

Luxol: L. Trapani, V. Jandric 26, P. Engelbert 4, E. Caruana Montaldo, F. Mifsud Bonnici 6, J.P. Schembri 12, K. Dimech 12, I. Pace 4, K. Gauci, S. Cappello 6.

Depiro: M. Todorovic 17, Q. Cooper 33, M. Naudi 16, D. Farrugia, N. Grech, O. Said 4, K. Xuereb 4, M. Borg, M. Brincat, J. Attard, A. Chomo 13, A. Attard.

Refs: B. Vassallo, I. Simic , S. Jafilica.