Luxol manage to keep Athleta at bay

Basketball St. James Hospital Shield - Men - Pool A

Bupa Luxol 89 Gzira Athleta 81 (15-18, 25-16, 20-18, 2929)

The first match of the Shield top echelon was an entertaining, and high scoring, one.

Luxol had already emerged victors over Athleta, in the Independence Cup final, and they kept up their winning sequence over their adversaries.

The Violets were briefly in arrears, late in the opening session, but when they grabbed another advantage, they held on, and Athleta had to chase for the remainder of the encounter.

Their triples, in the last period had them in contention, but Luxol always found means to hold on to their lead, with Serbian, Vukasin Jandric, netting an impressive haul of points.

Luxol were without Edward Bonello, but young starlet, Keith Dimech, was in Luxol's colours once more, for his first start of the season, as was Dirk Schembri.

Their Montenegro import, Filip Sekulic, has to wait till the November transfer window.

So, do Athleta's brace of Americans, Vincent Pace and Carson Shanks, with Luca Stefanovic making his appearance in the top outfit ranks.

CJ Cordina was early on with a triple, for Luxol, but Athleta were close by, until the Violets opened up their advantage, only for Athleta to end the session on a good note, with a 102 run, through Alex Perunicic and Matthew Gouder points, to forge ahead.

In the next session Luxol regained their lead, as Jandric sank a couple of treys, with a Perunicic triple, in between, for Athleta.

Luxol established a constant lead, with Athleta cutting down at times, as Gouder sank a trey.

Luxol's last points came from Jandric's triple, and Dimech hoops, with the Violets 40-34 in front, at the interval.

After the break Luxol saw Athleta tie the score, with an 80 run, and an Ivan Mitrovic long trey. Luxol mregained their advantage, and late triples, from Jandric and William Ahlberg had Luxol, going 60-52 ahead, into the last quarter.

Ahlberg netetd a second triple, as luxol went into a double figure lead, but Athleta's treys began to rain in, in their quest to save the game. Gouder's was follwed by a quick trio, from nathan Xuereb, but Jandric replied for Luxol, with a brace of treys of his own.

Still, Athleta were not done, as Gouder abd Peter Shoults, twice, had their side quite close.

Luxol denied them, as Jandric sank his seventh triple, and followed with more points, leaving their opponents some way behind, unable to bridge the gap.

Luxol: CJ Cordina 5, V. Jandric 37, L. Caruana Montaldo, JP Schembri, K. Demicoli 17,W. Ahlberg 10, D. Schembri 12, S. Cappello 8

Athleta: F. Mifsud Bonnici, J. Wait, P. Shoults 13, L. Stefanovic, A. Perunicic19, N. Xuereb 13, M. Gouder 2, S. Vincic, I. Mitrovic 9, M. Gauci Montaldo 4

Referees: B. Vassallo, Z. Dobrosavljevic, C. Xuereb

Sunday 7th October

9.00am: Under 14 Girls Tournament

11.00am: Women Shield Starlites GIG vs Hibs

12.45pm: Men Shield Depiro vs Starlites GIG

2.30pm: Women Shield Depiro vs Caffe Moak Luxol

4.15pm: Men Shield Hibs vs Balkan Fusion

Monday 8th October

6.15pm: Under 16 Men Depiro KVH vs Luxol

8.00pm: Under 16 Men Gzira Athleta vs Hibs