Group A Mellieħa Libertas 76 Depiro 66 (27-28, 29-25, 20-13 – game ended in the 28th minute) Mellieħa Libertas registered the first win in this season’s Shield competition and also the first win using the 75-point win threshold criteria which is being adopted for this same competition after the local clubs voted in favour, ahead of the season, to the proposal put forth. From the outcome of the first weekend and the general criticism even by club representatives, it seems that this locally-adopted criteria, which is sort of a ‘poor man’s’ version of the Elam Ending format which is used in some exhibition games and temporary tournaments, has more negatives than positives. This is the case especially when a high-scoring entertaining game has to be stopped abruptly even ahead of the end of the third quarter which is normally always played under an actual Elam Ending format. One hopes that the coming weeks of this competition will demonstrate some benefits or else one may also revert back to normal regulation play at least for the post-group stage. Depiro, making their first showing of the season, paraded two US import players, Kameron Rooks...
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