Recap

Athleta needed overtime to beat SiGMA Depiro at the Ta’ Qali Pavillion after dropping a double-digit lead and risking defeat in the fourth quarter.

It could have been a dominant win for Athleta on Sunday but second-half pressure caught up with the Maroons and Depiro came back late to force an extra period of play.

Malik Riddle hit first in the game with a three-pointer but Depiro’s Cameron Cornelius replied almost instantly with one of his own.

Kameron Rooks was next on the scoresheet before Riddle replied.

On defence, Athleta were double and even occasionally triple-teaming Rooks who was Depiro’s go-to player under the hoop, and in turn, interceptions led many fastbreaks which gave Athleta the lead after scores from Riddle, Piotr Stelmach and Dajuan Moorer.

Athleta began to grow stronger in the second quarter, getting into their first double-digit lead with 7.35 to go.

Midway through the rubber, Depiro upped their offensive efforts and got back to within three points. Meanwhile, Athleta’s defence became concentrated in the paint which left players out wide free to shoot, as well as putting Depiro in the bonus. Still, it was a nine-point Athleta lead at halftime.

After the change of ends, Riddle was again first to open the scoring. Then, a perfectly executed team play saw the ball land in Francesco Mifsud Bonnici’s hands, the Athleta captain successfully attempting a fake which gave him an open run to the hoop as Christos Kousidis’ clan was back ahead by double-digits.

Mallia and Cornelius hit back for Depiro with five minutes to go in the third quarter, but Athleta looked more organised on both ends of the court as they kept up their precious lead.

Nicholas Grech and Miguel Brincat both hit from three for Depiro in between a Matthew Gouder long-ranger for Athleta to bring the deficit to seven as the final quarter looked like make or break for both sides.

Grech was again on target from three when the fourth quarter began. Fouls on Rooks made it a four-point game before Cornelius hit from deep to counter a Riddle mid-ranger. Stelmach reopened the buffer but Cornelius and Grech both hit again from three-point range to tie the game six minutes from time.

Pressure was on Athleta and it started to look like a Depiro comeback for the second week in a row when Cornelius rose to make a lead-changing layup on his team’s next possession. The lead, however, was back in Athleta’s favour and they were up by four after a three-ball and freethrow by Gouder with 1.48 remaining.

Nikola Bozovic hit his first points of the day with a three but Mifsud Bonnici kept it at three points with less than a minute remaining. But the game was far from done when Cornelius tied again with another three-pointer to force the season’s first overtime.

A Riddle and-one play reopened the gap and Gouder scored one of two freethrows. When it seemed like nothing could separate the sides, Mifsud Bonnici drove up for two and Luca Stefanovic hit his most important shot of the day with a three-pointer as Athleta took the game.