Turner turns it on as Killester tighten grip on top spot
Killester will start the New Year at the top of the table following their 94-72 win over Moycullen that kept their unbeaten record intact.
In the only other Nivea for Men SuperLeague game to go ahead, Eagles reinforced their place at the top of the Southern Conference with an emphatic 92-63 victory over UCD Marian.
Few teams relish the visit to the University Arena and Marian will appreciate just why after Saturday night’s experience. The Eagles built up a 15-point lead in the first quarter with big scores from their American player Cameron Mitchell and Irish international Scott Kinevane.
UCD Marian battled back in the third quarter thanks to the sharp shooting of James Crowder and Dan James, but the combined effort of the big two, which resulted in a total of 38 points, wasn’t enough to overcome the powerful Limerick team.
“I hit a few lucky three-pointers,” said Kinevane who ended up with 23 points. “We have a lot of guys who can score so it’s not about who can be the main scorer with our team, it’s about who is going to step up into that role for the game at hand.”
Both Kinevane and coach Mark Bernsen insisted the Eagles’ success this season is the product of the defensive stance taken on the other end of the floor.
“We controlled 30 minutes of the game and were able to put ourselves into our comfort zone due to our work on both sides of the floor,” said Bernsen.
Kinevane stressed the defensive work Eagles have put in is beginning to pay off. “Our defence has been our foundation for the past few games,” he said.
11890 Killester demonstrated a spread of scoring with five players on double-digits led by Jermaine Turner on 14 points and John Behan on 13.
Moycullen lifted their game in the second half due mainly to Mason Ambler’s scoring which resulted in 24 points while Stephen Tummon contributed 22 points.
“It wasn’t an easy game for us,” Killester coach, Mark Keenan, said. “(Stephen) Tummon really gave us problems and our defence was not up to the mark. We never really showed the fire that we had in the first quarter and we let our foot off the gas in the second half.”
Yesterday’s game between Ulster Elks and UCC Demons fell victim to the weather and must have been a disappointment to Elks’ following their 101-87 victory over DCU Saints on Thursday night when Ciaran McEvilly top-scored with 29 points for Elks.
“We have been disappointed in our consistency in the league but I believe this game really showed our character,” Elks coach, Deirdre Brennan, said. “Although we let the Saints back into the game, we persevered and proved we could win.”
In the IrishSport.tv Women’s SuperLeague, UL avenged their National Cup defeat with a 62-52 win over Mark Ingle’s DCU Mercy. “We have to push on from here,” UL coach, James Weldon, said. “It wasn’t our best performance, but I’ll take a bad performance and a win against a quality side like DCU any day.
“We made a step up from our cup loss to DCU. We got a lot more off our bench and we had some fine performances from Michelle Fahy, Natalie Taylor and Louise Galvin. Hopefully, this will be a huge psychological boost ahead of the New Year.”
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