Andorra end tournament with 93-74 win over Malta

Andorra were without their 19-year-old Marti Obiols Puig for the game, who had impressed in their two wins of the tournament. Nevertheless Andorra opened the scoring with two points from the ever dangerous Guillem Colom. Malta’s two Falzon brothers began the afternoon unusually quiet, with the majority of the offence coming through Kurt Cassar, who put up 10 points through the first quarter. A three pointer from Jack Zammit eventually gave Malta the lead. They began to pull away and ended the quarter with a 26-19 advantage.

The second quarter scoring was again opened by Guillem Colom, and also saw Tevin Falzon begin to turn up the heat with six points and eight rebounds in the quarter. Andorra also began to find their feet offensively however, and outscored Malta 25-13 in the quarter, giving them a 44-38 lead at half-time.

Andorra continued their momentum and outscored Malta 25-15 through the quarter, and Maltese frustrations began to boil over. An argument between team-mates Kurt Cassar and David Bugeja culminated in a brief altercation, after which captain Peter Shoults and Aaron Falzon attempted to calm the situation. The quarter finished 69-53 in favour of Andorra.

The fourth quarter was again opened with an Andorran score, this time a three-pointer from Dot Marti Baez. While Malta attempted pull back the score, it ultimately proved to be too tough a task and Andorra sealed their win with a final scoreline of 93-74.

Despite the third quarter altercation with his team-mate, Kurt Cassar had a big day on the scoresheet, amassing 23 points and 11 rebounds. Malta’s Tevin Falzon eventually found his form and added 23 points. Bruno Bartolome and Sergi Serrato Balletbo led Andorra’s scoring with 16 and 15 points respectively.

This was the final game of the competition for Andorra, who have guaranteed themselves a medal after losing only one game to Ireland on the opening night.

The win guaranteed Andorra a medal, while Malta play Ireland at 7pm tomorrow evening, and hope to secure themselves a medal.