Saints’ overtime win stuns Killester
With the SuperLeague reaching the critical halfway point, the runaway Northern Conference leaders held a slender two-point advantage at the interval before Vinny O’Keefe’s DCU Saints clawed their way back to send the game into overtime on a 78-78 tie.
In a tight overtime period, Saints managed to pull away in the final minute with scores from Mike Trimmer and Kasey Ortiz ensuring a famous away win for the Saints.
“It was a fantastic game of basketball, credit to both sides for making it one of the games of the season,” Killester coach, Mark Keenan, said. “It just didn’t fall for us on the night. Saints made better decisions down the stretch and we may have been lucky to bring the game into overtime.
“We had a chance to go 13 ahead at the beginning of the fourth quarter but DCU stuck in there.”
David Donnelly, one of the heroes on the night for Saints said they were delighted with the win.
“It proves we can beat the best in the league,” he said. “It’s very important we make it count by putting a few performances together. There is no point in beating DART if we can’t follow it up now with wins over some of the other sides.”
Belfast Star claimed a thrilling derby win over luckless Ulster Elks, winning out 99-85, with recent signing Pierre Thomas hitting 23 points in the win.
The Northern Conference Player of the Month for November, Matt Betley, produced another fine display for Elks, claiming 27 points but the home side were always playing catch up after trailing 50-43 at the interval.
Star, who also had a good performance from Kevin Foley, extended their lead to 15 points at the end of the third quarter and never looked back.
Neptune followed on from their cup success last weekend with a hard-fought 78-67 win away to Limerick Lions. Neptune enjoyed a 41-36 lead at the break with ED Millard and Vincent James providing the all important scores.
“We didn’t play our best but that was down to some good work by Limerick,” coach Stephen McCarthy said. “It took us a while to settle into the season but everything is starting to gel nicely.”
Now level on wins with DART Killester, UCC Demons continued their winning run with a 83-69 victory at home to an Abrakebabra Tralee Tigers side still reeling by the loss of Micheál Quirke and Kieran Donaghy who are undergoing knee surgery.
Irish international Colin O’Reilly hit 27 points in the win, while CJ Hadley put in a good shift for the visitors (31 points).
In the Women’s Superleague, the big four all made it a successful weekend with Team Montenotte Hotel Cork coming through a fantastic clash with Tolka Rovers (86-75), while DCU Mercy eased past DART Killester. (89-47).
UL Aughinish had 15 points to spare over LeisureWorld Churchfield Iona (74-59) and Waterford Wildcats won away at Meteors (71-56).
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