Floriana sweat to subdue Luxol

Floriana had earlier beaten Luxol in successive semi-finals, and with handsome advantages, but their latest encounter had Luxol strengthened with William Ahlberg's presence, as he became available, and Floriana had to sweat it out till the end to come up with a nap hand advantage for the return encounter, on Thursday.

It is still up for grabs, as to who will ease into the semi-final. Luxol had a better array of players for this match, relying on eight squad members, with Floriana now constant in their sevenman formation.

JP Schembri shot Luxol ahead with his trey, with Floriana replying with a 9-2 run, as Chad Patus made his triple. Then it was 7-0 runs after each other, with Luxol having Ahlberg with his triple, and Floriana having Nikola Vasovic doing likewise. Floriana not only kept their advantage, but managed to open it up a little till the interval, as Patus and Schembri sank their treys at either end.

In the next session Luxol began their way back, with Schembri nailing his third trey, but Patus kept up his scoring for Floriana. An 8-0 Luxol run took them a hoop behind, as Stefan Cappello made a brace of hoops. More Patus points kept Floriana in the lead, and at the interval his side were on a 39-35 advantage, with Cappello keeping the Violets near to their opponents.

After the break Luxol went alongside their adversaries, and Pierce Cumpstone's three point play had them in front.

Floriana made a couple of hoops, but CJ Cordina, who returned to the side,, after missing two matches, netted a Luxol trey, and a free shot.

The lead changed hands twice more, before Floriana ended the session with a Patus triple and a Vasovic hoop, to lead 54-50. The last quarter had Floriana hanging on to their lead, until Cumpstone's brace of hoops tied the score, for Luxol.

A Vasovic trey, and more Patus points, with another triple, kept Floriana buoyant. Ahlberg and Cordina treys took Luxol a point ahead, but Floriana made a final 8-2 run, to edge in front once more, and take a useful advantage, for the return match.

Floriana: C. Patus 32, S. Pace 4, S. Borg, N. Vasovic 18, C. Calleja 10, A. Axiaq 10, N. Andrejevic

Luxol: CJ Cordina 11, D. Meli, J. Maistre Melillo, JP Schembri 13, K. Dimech, W. Ahlberg 11, P. Cumpstone 21, S. Cappello 13

Referees: B. Vassallo, G. Barbara, E. Ozpolat