32 years after the previous Maltese club took part in European competition, Starlites got their debut in the FIBA Europe Cup qualifiers out of the way on Tuesday with a close 81-74 defeat to Cypriot side Anorthosis Famagusta at the Ta’ Qali Pavilion.
Speaking to the press after the game, Starlites coach Paul Ferrante said this opener would give him and his staff a clear image of what needed to be fixed.
“Talking after a loss is always difficult, irrespective of the loss,” he said. Today we managed to stay close to our opponents, but that was not our main job.”
“I would like to congratulate my players for the job they did on the court and obviously, the opponents, because they beat us. But the thing is, we have to look at what situations we need to fix.
“We had an idea of the players they had but we did not have an idea of the team, because you couldn’t find anything of their friendly games. All that we can say now is that in this ‘first half’, they are plus-seven.
“This is a game that continues, but it continues in their own home. Nevertheless, the game is still open.
Professional Starlites mentality
Asked about the difference in level the team experienced on the day, Ferrante mentioned the physical nature of play, as well as the use of the Instant Replay System (IRS), which had also been proposed for the local game a few years ago, but never materialised.
“This was a very physical game. In Malta, we are not used to playing this physically because we call many more fouls, many more contacts, but this is a good level of basketball,” he said.
“This is also the first time we used the IRS in Malta. For the past two years, we never used the VAR system. And smartly enough, it was used by the other team to break the rhythm. This is also one thing which we can do as coaches. When you want to break the rhythm of the game, you can ask also for a review. And obviously, it has to be the referees who have to agree on it.”
Despite talks of ‘professional vs amateur’ before the tie, this was not the case on Tuesday as the teams showed no sign of disparity throughout the game.
“Famagusta are a professional team. But I would praise my guys because they acted like a professional team. And I would like to reiterate that having guys, getting time off work to come, you know, practise in the morning so that they still manage to fit two sessions shows determination,” Ferrante said.
“Putting the group together was not easy in such a short span, with so many changes. I think the guys who came in did a good job.”
Speaking about the second leg, Ferrante said they have a better idea of what to expect.
“Now that we have a game against them under our belt, it will be easier to see what they can do. We had an idea because all the imports they had were full games of where they were playing last year.
“We don’t have the advantage of having the recovery that our opponents have, because we have to go to work in the morning. But again, the difference between us today wasn’t that big.
“They were better in some aspects and we were careless in some other aspects. So, if we took away half of the careless mistakes, which were a considerable number, maybe we would be talking in a different way now. Having said that, they still remain the favourites.
“Now they have a seven-point lead. This was the first half. Second half – bigger supporters for them.”
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