BOV Basketball First Division Play-off Final

AtoZ Electronics Athleta and Cynergi Virtus will face each other in the BOV Basketball First Division Play-off final.

Both coaches, Joe Galea, for Athleta and Paul Ferrante from Virtus, accompanied by respective team captains Michael Naudi and Peter Shoults, spoke with the media one last time before taking to the court on the 8th April 2015 for the first match in the best-of-5 series.

Joe Galea, contesting his 14th consecutive final for Athleta said that even though some of his players have won a large number of honours over the past years, and 4 titles this season, they are very motivated to keep adding further honours to the club’s impressive trophy cabinet.

Paul Ferrante countered that although statistically this season, his team can be considered the under-dogs, they will be approaching the final with confidence. In the first year of this new team, they have already won one honour and will be seeking to add the year’s most prestigious title, the BOV Basketball 1st Division League, to their name.

The press conference was also addressed by Paul Sultana, President of the Malta Basketball Association and Peter Perotti, Chief Office Bank of Valletta.

Thanking BOV for their support and the media for their presence, Paul Sultana stressed on the importance of the 6th player on court – the supporters who make such a difference to the atmosphere of the match and boost the players’ performance. ‘We are extremely pleased to see the two top performing teams to this year’s final and augur a spectacle of basketball in a sporting environment.

'Previous encounters between the two teams have always resulted in high-intensity, entertaining basketball and we are looking forward to crown the top team of the season’ said Peter Perotti. 'The BOV MVP award introduced during the BOV Basketball Knockout this season, will once again feature in this Final where the top performing player in the best-of-5 series, selected by specialist media will be presented with a commemorative trophy at the end of the series.'

An interesting fact is that both coaches have won the last league that they coached in. Joe Galea is the coach of current champions Athleta while Paul Ferrante, who took a sabbatical last season, won the 2012-2013 league, then coaching Floriana.

The best-of-5 series will be played at the Ta’ Qali Basketball Pavilion on the following dates:

Match 1 – Wednesday 8th April – 7.30pm

Match 2 – Sunday 12th April – 2.45pm

Match 3 – Sunday 19th April – 4.30pm

Match 4 – Sunday 26th April – 4.30pm

Match 5 – Friday 1st May – 4.30pm