With comfortable victories and under very positive signs, ESOBGA and the Nicosia Bar Association (DSL) began the Second Phase of the Nicosia Championship, as they won their respective games in the opening round — ESOBGA against Think Colour and DSL against Makedones-Dimco.
The much-anticipated Gold Division derby between the previously unbeaten teams ESOBGA and Think Colour ultimately turned into a one-sided performance, as the home team completely dominated on the court, winning 80–52. Except for the early introductory minutes of the game, Christos Kyriakidis’ team was clearly the stronger side throughout and secured the derby more comfortably than perhaps expected before tip-off.
ESOBGA took the lead from the outset and steadily expanded it, not allowing Andrea Christou’s team to return to contention at any stage. Indicative of the gradual dominance by the hosts are the quarter-by-quarter scores: 16–10, 37–27, 57–38, 80–52.
For Think Colour, who did not have any significant absences to deal with, this was their first loss in the Championship, possibly due to very low perimeter shooting (just 2/19 from three-point range), as well as ESOBGA’s superiority in rebounds, assists, and other statistical categories.
Excellent for the winners was Dimitris Makris, who scored 23 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, followed by Nikolas Panayiotou and Christos Diamantis with 16 and 15 points respectively. For the visitors, Stamatis Makris stood out with 17 points, followed by Giorgos Anastasiadis with 9.
In the other game yesterday, the Nicosia Bar Association (DSL) moved away with a comfortable road win from English School, defeating Makedones-Dimco 43–66, securing their second win of the season and climbing to 4th place in the Bronze Division standings.
Nikolas Konstantinou’s team delivered perhaps their best performance of the season and did not struggle significantly to reach success. After the early introductory minutes, the Lawyers stepped on the gas and built a safe lead early, leading 13–25 at the end of the first quarter and 26–42 at halftime.
In the second half, the pattern did not change, with the visitors continuing at the same pace and gradually extending their advantage with small fluctuations, while the home team did not show the ability to stage a comeback. The final 43–66 sealed the performance of both teams and delivered the valuable win to DSL.
For the winners, Tsakonas, Lambidis, and Theodorou were the trio that carried most of the scoring load, posting 18, 13 and 13 points respectively. For Makedones, Stavros Grigoriou stood out with 19 points, followed by Tsobanidis and Vazoukis with 9 points each.
