Starlites crowned Malta champions after stunning season

STARLITES REVIVE            98

HIBERNIANS                        77

(25-22, 31-15, 23-22, 19-18)

Starlites Revive completed a remarkable season by reclaiming the BOV Division One crown for the fourth time in five years with a Playoff finals Game Five victory over Hibernians on Sunday at the Ta’ Qali Pavilion.

Having gone through the regular campaign unbeaten, Starlites were forced to dig deep in a series that tested their title credentials. Hibs won Games One and Four, but Starlites responded with victories in Games Two, Three and Five to regain the championship they had lost to the Paolites last season.

Jackson Threadgill led the Naxxar side’s scoring on the day with 29 points, while Musa Jallow added 25 in a dominant display inside the paint.

Captain Matthew Scerri also played an important role with 12 points before lifting the trophy. For Hibs, Deonte Jackson led the charge to finish with 16 points, Ayomide Ajiboye had 13, as did Elijah Simmons. Ivan Demcesen rounded the double-digit scorers with 10 points.

The Paolites hit first as Ajiboye scored with a jumpshot from a turnover before Simmons added one of his own to give them an early lead. Starlites gradually settled, with Jallow tying the game through a second-chance effort before Hibernians replied with a Neil Cassar three-pointer.

Starlites began to impose themselves midway through the opening quarter. Scerri levelled the score from close range, while Jallow and Threadgill eventually shifted the score in Starlites’ favour, the margin going up to five points with 2:27 to go for the first buzzer.

Despite efforts from Demcesen and Ajiboye, a pair of Threadgill triples kept Starlites in the driving seat ahead of a last chance score from Hibs’ Attard that meant the two sides would be separated by three points after the first ten minutes of play.

That all changed in the second quarter however, as Starlites exploded on the scoreboard in a quarter that saw them put up 31 points and conceding just half of that.

An Iturmendi triple first pushed them into a double-digit advantage. Simmons pushed to try and balance the game with all of Hibs’s points in the first six minutes, but a three-ball from Scerri and layups from Jallow and Kai Fabri shocked the Paolites before a pair of Iturmendi freethrows pushed their lead up to 19 before the halftime break that halted the game at 56-37.

Starlites kept control after the change of ends. Alec Felice Pace and Jallow pushed the gap beyond 20 points immediately, and although Jackson began to find his shooting touch for Hibernians, Miguel Fabri answered with a three-pointer to maintain Starlites’ dominance.

Jackson and Ajiboye made their case for a Hibs comeback but they found responses from Threadgill after each effort as a last-second Jackson triple could only make sure the Paolites had 20 points to recover in the final rubber.

To their credit, Hibs kept fighting in the fourth quarter and went as close as 11 points away after triples from Demcesen, Stefan Simic, and Piotr Stelmach.

However, as the fouls piled up, Starlites took full advantage of the bonus by going to the line and pushing the margin back up to 21  before the final buzzer confirmed them as champions of the Maltese top division.

It was a fitting finish for Starlites, who turned an unbeaten regular season into a championship campaign and wrestled the title back from the side that had taken it from them a year earlier.

In addition, Starlites’ Musa Jallow completed the afternoon’s triumphs by being awarded the Finals MVP award.

STARLITES REVIVE A. Felice Pace 8, K. Fabri 6, T. Fee 4, A. Aquilina, S. Pace, I. Felice Pace 6, M. Fabri 3, M. Scerri 12, J. Iturmendi 5, J. Threadgill 29, K. Xuereb, M. Jallow 25.

HIBERNIANS N. Cassar 3, E. Simmons 13, A. Ajiboye 13, L. Farrugia, P. Stelmach 3, M. Gouder 6, D. Jackson 16, M. Attard 5, I. Demcesen 10, S. Simic 8.

Referees B. Vassallo, G. Barbara, M. De Flavia.