Luxol trio help in century victory

Basketball - Men’s Div I

BUPA Luxol Hibernians (26-25, 24-18, 23-20, 34-16) 107 79

It was back to back wins for Luxol with Samuel Deguara to boost them although William Ahlberg and Pierce Cumpstone turned in sterling performances to subdue the Paolites and also avenge their early elimination from the BOV KO at the hands of the same Hibs.

The Violets now have three victories from five matches but Hibs are still winless in the league and this could jeopardise their entry into the Play Offs.

For them Marco Matijevic played his best game so far this season. Luxol had CJ Cordina and Dean Meli back in their ranks for a longer bench. The Paolites also recovered Simon Attard and Michael Hampton but there was Stefan Vella missing.

Deguara’s presence in the Hibs’ paint had Luxol opening up an 8-2 start with Cumpstone and JP Schembri then adding their triples.

The Paolites came creeping back with Matijevic Alvaro Lizaur and Luke Farrugia making points to take them nearer. More Deguara points had Luxol retaining their advantage but only just till the end of the session.

In the next period, Hibs managed to tie the score twice but more Deguara points opened up another Luxol lead. The Paolites still tied the score once again only for Ahlberg to come to the fore pushing his side into another advantage and netting a very late trey as Luxol went in at the interval on a better 50-43 lead as the score soared high.

After the break, Hibs reduced their deficit momentarily but the Violets began to assert their control on the match making up an 11-2 run with Cumpstone and Ahlberg treys.

Hibs’ Matijevic and Lizaur kept their side in the race but Ahlberg and Cumpstone were still putting in their triples as Luxol led 73-63.

In the last quarter, the Hibs defence began to wilt as Ahlberg proved to be too much of a handful to their rearguard. He sank two more triples along with another from Cumpstone, for a much healthier advantage.

The Paolites managed treys by Lizaur and Adrian Micallef but they were still adrift in their deficit. A last push had Luxol making up a good 14-2 run to go past the century mark and grab a top position but with a match more.

Luxol: CJ Cordina 8, M. Mercieca, J. Maistre Melillo, JP Schembri 3, K. Dimech 5, W. Ahlberg 31, P. Cumpstone 22, S. Deguara 34, S. Cappello 4

Hibs: P. Attard 4, M. Hampton, E. Xuereb 4, L. Farrugia 7, S. Attard, I. Bonett 3, K. Sultana, A. Micallef 8, M. Matijevic 26, M. Laferla, F. Mariani 10, A. Lizaur 27

Referees: E. Mangani, C. Farrugia, Z. Dobrosavljevic

Simon Attard of Hibernians (R) goes to the basket against BUPA Luxol Photo: Dom. Aquilina