Recap

Valletta Fighters registered their first-ever victory in Maltese basketball when they beat Luxol and secured their semifinal spot in the John Tabone Shield on Sunday.

The Citizens made up for their first game defeat with a dominant performance despite the smaller roster and it was a deserved win as Luxol fell to defeat in their first outing of the season.

Luxol, playing under coach Reuben Dalli in the absence of Duncan Fenech, hit first through a JP Schembri three-ball. Desean Mattox, who finished the game with an astounding 42 points, wasted no time in responding with one of his own. Tariq Woody, who finished with 32 points and an incredible 27 rebounds double-double opened his account at Luxol with a close-range effort before Keith Charleston hit his first of four threes – part of a double-double performance with 22 points and 15 rebounds – to give Valletta the lead.

The Valletta forward hit another long-range effort and Mattox drove to the hoop to open a five-point lead but Luxol crawled back to level proceedings but missed the chance to change the lead when Marko Matijevic missed both shots from the line midway through the quarter. Instead, Rytis Rutkaukas shot another three-ball to reopen the gap.

A Mattox three brought Valletta past the 20-point mark late in the quarter but Luxol kept the margin to just a point with Nathan Xuereb’s first Violet score.

It looked like Valletta’s growing pains from the opening fixture had subsided as their players began to click even more in the second quarter. Mattox made it a nine-point game two minutes into the rubber before another Schembri three-pointer kept up Luxol’s hopes.

Foul trouble was the topic of the quarter as Valletta were in the bonus with 4.49 remaining in the half. However, a slick Sebastian Pace layup had both sides at four points apart before Gael Hulsen brought Luxol to within two points.

Charleston and Woody traded threes with two minutes to go but Mattox was once again on hand to keep Valletta’s lead intact, even going as high as 11 points ahead by the halftime buzzer.

The change of ends kept both sides in full throttle but once again it was the Citizens who looked the most dangerous as the Mattox-Charleston tandem continued to dominate proceedings.

Xuereb brought the margin to single digits early in the final quarter but Christian Briffa and Mattox responded before a time-out was called with nerves at a high.

Woody remained Luxol’s most consistent scorer on the day but with close-range makes, Mattox’ scores kept them on their way to victory despite Charleston getting fouled out with 3.45 remaining in the game and Luxol once more in the bonus.