Tralee Tigers tame Demons
The win keeps the Tigers on top of the Southern Conference, and it also sets them up well for Tuesday night’s local derby clash with Killarney’s Gleneagle Lakers.
Once more, Tigers got big games out of their Americans, especially MVP Brandon Mason, who was top scorer with 26 points, while Chris Bracy chipped in with 17 points. Local player, Micheal Quirke, started and finished strong, and put up 12 points, while Kieran Donaghy and Rob Lynch did well in defence.
Both sides began nervously, with a lot of early and fruitless outside shooting in the first quarter, which the Tigers shaded, 20 to 15.
The second quarter was similar, with the home side trying to slow the tempo, and with UCC playing their usual fast game, but with Rob Lynch and Kieran Donaghy coming off the Tralee bench to telling effect, the home side stretched out to a 40-25 half time lead.
Despite the best efforts of Shane Coughlan, Torrey Butler and Mark Mitchels, Demons made little in-roads into the Tigers lead in the third quarter and trailed 57-44, but then a huge early fourth quarter press brought the Cork side right back in to the game.
A big three-pointer followed by two two-pointers and one from the line from Coughlan started the Demons comeback, and with Butler fighting hard under the boards, Demons were level, 60-60, with four minutes remaining.
Another Coughlan three-pointer, with 1.36 on the clock, had Demons trailing 66-65, but then the Mason, Bracy and Williams made their move with typical fast breaks.
With Demons in team foul trouble, Tigers went to the free throw line three times in the last minute, where they made four from six, and tactically ran down the clock to record their sixth consecutive league win.
Meanwhile at the Neptune Stadium, the Super league holders maintained their good early season form with a 97-77 triumph over Waterford Crystal with Charron Watson again showing the way with a superb 33 points contribution.
Neptune did not have it all their own way, however, as the visitors had eight points on the board within two minutes before Watson stemmed the tide with a brace of baskets.
Three pointers from Shaun Munro and Travis Jackson, plus a fine rebound from Jeff Wiersma, gave the Waterford team the best possible start but they were gradually overhauled by the slick moving Neptune quintet of Watson, Kenny Gamble, Stephen McCarthy, Gordon Fitzgerald and Dave Langrell who combined well to lead 29-18 by the first quarter.
Fitzgerald chipped in with an early three-pointer and Waterford looked in big trouble but great scores from Robert Grant, Wiersma, Jackson, Andrew Piper and Eamonn Sheehan brought the visitors back into contention and there were just three points in it at halfway (47-44).
Waterford twice drew level in the early third quarter exchanges, but they reckoned without Dave Langrell and his marvellous 15 points saw the home team well in command (70-58) entering the final 10 minutes.
A feature of the final quarter was the magnificent ball distribution by Neptune’s Stephen McCarthy, and scores came freely from his superb defence splitting passes. The margin was 20 at the end and Waterford had no complaints.
Despite a 33-point performance from newly signed Jermaine Turner, St Vincent’s went down 98-106 to MDS Star from Belfast. A 36-point game from JoJo Chambers along with a superb performance from Adrian Fulton, gave Star the edge. They led 26-21 at the end of the first quarter and the margin stretched to 15 at the break.
St Vincent’s worked hard in the third quarter to cut the lead to five points (70-75) but they failed to get the better of Star in the final quarter. A late intentional foul called on Mike Trimmer finished the game for St Vincent’s, in their fourth consecutive defeat.
In front of a crowd of close to 1,300 spectators, the newly named Shamrock Rovers Hoops team (formerly Notre Dame) took to the National Basketball Arena and played their best basketball of the season.
The Hoops dominated the boards, keeping the normally high scoring Tony Atchinson to 13-points, while Anthony Jenkins controlled his own boards. Killester kept it close for much of the first half, before being overcome in the latter stages of the game.
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