Deadly Demons maul Tigers in their lair
Though not claiming it as an excuse for the loss, Tigers' coach, Joe Quirke, admitted he was puzzled at the decision to dismiss American Eric Bush for two "unsportsmanlike" fouls after four minutes.
"I had to question it. I just did not understand it. I am not disputing the fact that he stopped a player going to the basket but I don't think it warranted dismissing him. It is a new rule and I had to look for an explanation."
Tigers were left without a point guard and even the return of Micheal Quirke couldn't hold off the relentless running/shooting exhibition by the visitors from Cork.
Demons' coach, Pat Price, was pleased by the performance and particularly the fourth quarter when they scored 41 points. (In all they hit 16 three pointers and five of those came in the final quarter).
"Again we had an excellent return from our bench. Colin O'Reilly had 25 points off the bench, Michael Doles top scored with 31 and Gary Johnson had 26.
"But David Murphy was excellent. He scored 11 points but he is improving with every game. He is going against Gary Johnson in practice and he is definitely benefiting."
Following the loss of Bush, Quirke sent Luke O'Hea to the point and he did remarkably well a performance highlighted by his 33 points. Micheal Quirke had 20 points and 18 rebounds while Kieran Donaghy had 11 points and 12 rebounds with Roscoe Patterson on 12 points.
Today they play host to Limerick Lions, who travel on the back of a 98-80 victory over Neptune in what coach Tommy Hehir described as a physical game at UL on Saturday night.
"To be honest we could do without the trip to Tralee after that game," he said. "We probably need a rest."
But he was happy with the team's performance, which now sees them joint top of the Southern Conference alongside UCC Demons after three SuperLeague games and is punctuated by their big win over Demons in the first round of the Cup.
Jon Steven had 39 points for them on Saturday night while Robert Taylor hit 21 and Robert Lynch and Ricardo Leonard had 10 apiece.
"It was another solid performance from our guys but we would expect another tough game in Tralee. It is difficult to take points away from there at the best of times but we are coming off a really hard game," Hehir said.
Joe Quirke said: "Normally after a result like we had on Saturday night you could expect a team to come out fighting.
"The return of Micheal Quirke is a big boost to us and I don't think we will ever be as bad as we were on Saturday night. That game was out of context. I would like to think we will be a lot better against Limerick."
Also in uncharacteristic fashion it took Roma St. Vincent's all of three minutes to squander a 16 point lead against Merry Monk Ballina who travelled home with an 87-83 victory.
Coach Joey Boylan began to run the bench when it appeared as if Vincent's who led from the very start had the points secure but the home side lost their way. In fact Ballina only took the lead for the first time with 17 seconds remaining.
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