Neptune and Star fail to shine

TABLE -toppers Neptune and Sx3 Star, who trail them by two points with a game in hand, missed golden opportunities to cement their positions at the top of the ESB Men’s Superleague over the weekend.

Burger King Limerick produced a great comeback to beat Star in a thriller on Saturday night at the University Arena and Star had to withstand a ferocious challenge from the Gleneagle Lakers before taking the points at the INEC yesterday.

And, as Star suffered at Plassey on Saturday night, Hibernian UCD Marian created another upset by beating Neptune 95-89 after leading by 10 points at half-time.

That was after Notre Dame created an upset on Friday night with a 91-85 victory over Killester Burger King Limerick coach Tommy Hehir has been wondering all season just how he could extract some consistency from a team with so much potential and he may just have found the answer in former Foreign Player of the Year Cleotis Brown. Brown made a sensational if brief return to the squad on Saturday night when they came back from the dead to beat Star. He was fouled out with nine minutes to play.

Limerick started well going up 4-0 in the first minute before Charles Mason went on a scoring spree that yielded 12 points. Indeed, Limerick did well to stay in touch with some good baskets from Nazareth Henry and Brown and Star led at the end of the first quarter 28-22.

In the second quarter Limerick never looked like they could trouble Star as Scott Summersgill put on a fine display from both the three-point line and the foul-line, contributing 12 points to give his team a 10-point half-time lead of 53-43.

The third quarter looked set to continue same, as Star increased their lead to 13 points at 59-46. Then Limerick dug deep and began to fight back hard with some great baskets from Henry to reduce the deficit to just four points going into the final quarter at 65-61. An opening basket from Cleotis Brown in the final quarter reduced the gap to two points but it was to be his last contribution to the game as he fouled out with 8.20 left in the quarter. Limerick’s Luke O’Hea, Mathew Hall and Nazareth Henry took the game over in the last quarter and despite three three-pointers from John Leahy, Star were unable to contain the Limerick pressure and went down 89-81.

Tommy Hehir said: “It was a nice win all right. Cleotis made a difference to the energy of the team. But the Irish players played very well and really it was their performance that made the difference.

“Star were up the whole game. We did a really close defensive job in the second half and even when Cleotis was fouled out a minute into the fourth quarter but they stuck to the game plan and it paid off. I think the fact that they were able to play out nine minutes of the last quarter against a team like Star with Cleotis on the bench will work wonders for their confidence.

“I am disappointed for the Tralee loss at home. I think we are better than our league position. Licking their wounds, Star set out for Killarney where they were without John Leahy and Gareth Maguire for the game against Mark Scannell’s Gleneagle Lakers. John Leahy was nursing a calf injury picked up in Limerick. With only seven players, Star did well to pull away with a 28-10 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The visitors continued their domination throughout the second quarter, stretching their lead to 24 points, before Killarney brought it back, 44-31 at half time.

Lakers stormed into the second half and a superb performance from Tyrone Levets allowed them their first lead in the game before the teams levelled on 61 points apiece at the end of the third quarter.

The final quarter was basket for basket with Star enjoying a narrow three-point lead with a minute to play. Pat Campolieta and the reliable Scott Summersgill held tough to guarantee them a hard-earned win.

Neptune are the team everybody wants to beat and, particularly when they travel to Dublin, they get nothing easy.

“When we go to Dublin we have to play up to our best if not better. This time we played poorly,” Coach Martin Aherne said after their loss to Hibernian UCD Marian.

“OK, we could have stolen but in all fiarness they deserved to win. They led all the way and we were down 10 for most of the game then we got it back to three. “We have a big game against ITP Saints at Neptune Stadium on Sunday afternoon and I would hope to win that one. After Christmas we will have 10 people training with Gordon Fitzgerald, Marcus Walley and Pascal Bree back and I, personally, am looking forward to that.”

With only six players, Tralee were unable to put up much of a fight against Irish Travel Partner Saints, visibly tiring in the second half due to lack of substitution. Tralee held their own in the first half, leading 23-25 at the end of the first quarter before Saints moved into a 50-44 lead at half-time and pulled away in the third quarter, Tim Welsh was fouled out of the game with eight minutes to go and Donnelly brothers Karl and Emmett received separate injuries that had them removed from the court. An elbow to Emmett left him without his two front teeth, while a blow to the head of Karl put him out of action. Despite their casualties, Saints were never in trouble in the final quarter and ran out with a 106-87 victory.