Starlites in fourth league victory

Starlites GIG 63 Marvels Power 49 (16-8, 17-12, 21-16, 9-13)

Starlites took the occasion to steer clear of the bottom two positions with their third victory over Marvels this season. They put distance between them and their opponents to control the match and have no worries till the final buzzer. Starlites were without Mirko Azzopardi and Miguel Falzon. Marvels recovered Andrew Morris but were missing four players in all - Glen Borg, Nicola Guida, Darren Debattista and Luke Azzopardi.

Starlites made early triples from Isaac Pace and Ian Felice Pace as they swept in front.

Marvels answered in bursts of double hoops but Starlites were in command as from the opening period.

The second session saw Marvels able to react to the first Starlites hoops as Christian Briffa made his points. Starlites had Alex Xuereb to lead the way and an 8-0 run late in the period had them enjoying a 33-20 advantage at the interval.

After the break, Starlites kept their grip on the match. Pace and Julian Wait led their team mates in points building and Owen Psaila netted a late triple.

Marvels had Darryl Pisani to hike their score up but they were still trailing after three sessions to a 54-36 score.

In the last session, Reuben Curmi hoops had Marvels reducing their deficit but Starlites restored their previous advantage. A late 8-2 run had Marvels with a more respectable score but Starlites could still boast of a healthy advantage at the end of the match.

Starlites: O. Psaila 3, L. Vella, I. Felice Pace 5, M. Scerri 13, I. Pace 9, M. Vella 6, J. Wait 15, A. Xuereb 12 Marvels: D. Pisani 14,R. Curmi 7, D. Verebries, A. Morris 2, C. Briffa 18, Q. Bugeja 6, D. Borg 2 Referees:E. Mangani, N. Azzopardi