Deadly Demons in line for double after crushing Neptune

UCC Demons 107 Neptune 85

When the sides met in the very first game of the new season it resulted in a 48-point victory for Demons. Neptune had a new coach in place and two new imports for last night’s crucial cup clash but the changes made little difference as Pat Price’s side ran riot.

The man who has lead Demons to two cup victories and last season’s SuperLeague title played his bench and was rewarded with wholehearted effort from everyone and, in particular Colin O’Reilly who came out to keep his average high with 19 points.

But it was a third-quarter salvo from Michael Doles that inflicted irreparable damage on the visitors, who suffered their first defeat at The Mardyke arena. He left the game with just over a minute left with a total of 22 points.

Neptune suffered a major setback before the game when Stephen McCarthy limped off the court after a recurrence of his calf muscle injury during the warm-up, and things began to go downhill from there on.

They were holding their own until Gary Johnson and Shane Coughlan hit them with three-pointers. Michael McGinn steadied them with a three pointer but when Niall O’Reilly hit them for three, Michael Plichta had a basket and one from the line and Johnson hit them with another three they were trailing 22-14.

They battled back with Michael McGinn leading the charge. He combined with Dajan Smith to cut the arrears to four points, and they trailed 25-22 at the end of the first quarter.

Another three-pointer from Johnson on the resumption set the trend for the second quarter as Demons took control. James Whyte added eight points to his first quarter total and David Murphy came off the bench for six as Neptune struggled for four points. There were 23 points between the sides with four minutes left in the half and the score was 59-42 at half time.

Doles added six points to two from Adam Piszczak on the restart and a dunk from James Whyte had 24 points between the sides with eight minutes left in the quarter. Michael Doles scored 12 points as Demons ran riot to lead 91-69 going into the final quarter.

Three minutes into the last quarter the margin was 25 points as the pace dropped and the game went flat.

UCC DEMONS: M. Doles 22 pts; C. O’Reilly 21 pts.; G. Johnson 20 pts.

NEPTUNE: D. Smyth 24 pts; R. Brown 22 pts; A. Piszczuk 11 pts.