Starlites GiG look to extend winning streak to six games while Gzira Athleta want to stop their two-game losing streak with a win over Luxol this weekend.
The Bank of Valletta Men’s Basketball League regular season standings are far from decided, but the conclusion of this weekend’s action may indicate who is going to finish ahead.
Starlites GiG and Hibernians, the latter currently sitting in first place, are both in a tight race with Gzira Athleta for BOV league leadership. Gzira Athleta (5-2) faces upset-minded Luxol on Saturday while Starlites (5-2) hope to extend their winning streak against a tough and high-scoring Depiro side (2-5); Hibernians (5-3) will sit back and watch what unfolds this weekend.
Athleta have dropped their last two league outings, allowing Starlites and Hibernians to get back into the race for top-seeding for the playoffs. The team currently having the hottest hand may be Starlites, who are on a five-game winning streak. The men in blue lost the first two games of the season, but they have since rattled off five consecutive wins.
“Being a young team, we had a couple of close games at the beginning of the season where we weren’t able to come away with wins,” said Starlites’ Konor Kulas. The Wisconsin native netted 33 points last week in a league win over Luxol, and is second in the league, as of last Sunday, in total rebounds (174). Kulas noted that he and his squadmates gathered valuable lessons from those early season losses, which helped propel them to their current winning form.
“We have a lot of different players contributing and I think that makes us dangerous because teams can’t put all their focus on just one or two players.”
To make it six victories in a row, Starlites need to tame the high-scoring Depiro duo in Quin Cooper and Cordarius Johnson. They help lead Depiro to a 56 percent 2-point shooting efficiency for the season (all competitions), and another productive shooting day is needed if Depiro expect to stop Starlites’ winning streak. Johnson and Cooper combined for 65 out of the team’s 96 points (40 and 25 points, respectively) in a first-leg loss on 15 February to Hibernians in the BOV Knockout Cup.
“Depiro is definitely going to be another great test for us this weekend,” Kulas added. “(Cooper and Johnson) are putting up huge numbers, so we need to keep them in check.”
Depiro and Starlites play on Sunday, 23 February at 12:45.
On Saturday, Gzira Athleta plan to bounce back and get into winning form against Luxol (1-6). Gzira Athleta captain Peter Shoults admits that his side have lost their form in the last few weeks. In order for the defending league champions to get their form back, Shoults said that his team needs to pressure the ball on the defensive end and better distribute the ball while in attack.
Key players are out of the lineup for Gzira Athleta due to injuries and other commitments. This makes the task of returning to form dependent on the club’s bench and reserve players.
“Luxol have been getting better each game, and they look much stronger with their new American player,” Shoults said. “I’ll expect a tough game since we’ll be missing key guys from our normal rotation.”
Depiro and Luxol can both play spoilers this weekend. While it will not determine the final seeding for the playoffs, the two clubs can certainly throw either Gzira or Starlites off the tracks towards first place. A Luxol victory will certainly inject playoff hopes in head coach Duncan Fenech’s men and will make the race to postseason play all the more interesting with five weekends left to play.
Gzira Athleta and Luxol tip off at 16:15 on Saturday, 22 February.
PHOTO CREDIT: Wally Galea
STATS CREDIT: Colin Schembri