Century victory for Luxol

Floriana MCP Car Parks 78 Bupa Luxol 113 (14-18, 17-30, 28-35, 19-30)

In Luxol's second victory, in the series, they surpassed their century. It was actually the third time, in Play Off finals, that a century was reached, but the other two were in overtime games, in the first ever Play Off finals, in 1989, and again, in 1994. Luxol showed their superiority, as Samuel Deguara obtained a huge haul of points, and the two foreigners backed him up nicely, with double figure scores, along with young Keith Dimech. Floriana also had two outstanding players, with Chad Patus carrying on from the first match, and Dirk Schembri also produced an impeccable performance. Floriana were always fighting an uphill battle, as Luxol went ahead from the start, and never relinquished their advantage. It was a wide open encounter, with Luxol not really caring about the points conceded to their opponents, except their evergreen coach, John Tabone, seeing as they were piling up the points in a constant manner, from the second session onwards. The match had a twenty-minute delay, with a problem arising from a fine, imposed on Floriana, in their last match, which had first to be paid, before this second game had to begin.

Luxol raced into a 7-0 start, before being stopped by a brace of Dirk Schembri hoops. Floriana twice came to within a basket, but William Ahlberg, enjoying his playmaking role, sank a Luxol triple, as his side kept their lead till the end of the session. In the second period Luxol began to draw away, with Floriana unable to stop Deguara from making points in the paint. There were also Ahlberg and Pierce Cumpstone making their treys, with Floriana reacting with a trio of Chad Patus triples. At the interval, the Violest had gone on to a solid 4831 advantage.

After the break the points were still piling in at either end, with Luxol continuing to edge away further. It was Keith Dimech netting a couple of triples for Luxol, whilst Anton Axiaq and Patus sank theirs for the Greens. A session away from the end Luxol had amassed a huge 83-59 lead. The century was not far away, with Schembri counteracting for Flroiana, with a further four hoops. At the other end Ahlberg netted another trey, and CJ Cordina netted Luxol's century points, adding a trey soon after , along with Cumpstone and Ahlberg further triples, as the score kept escalating. Luxol had their second series victory, which takes them just a game away from the league title, which could be theirs next Sunday, when they will be meeting Floriana for the third time.

C. Patus 31, D. Schembri 23, S. Borg 5, D. Agius, N. Vasovic 6, C. Calleja 4, A. Axiaq 7, A. Micallef Trigona 2, N. Andrejevic

CJ Cordina 7, M. Mercieca 4, M. Sjoberg, J. Maistre, JP Schembri 2, K. Dimech 12, W. Ahlberg 19, P. Cumpstone 22, S. Deguara 47, S. Cappello

B. Vassallo, G. Barbara, C. Farrugia