Frustration for Hibernia as Tajfun take victory in Tallaght
The combined club side controlled the early exchanges and put the game in the mix in the third quarter but turnovers and fouls allowed the Slovenians pull through by 20 points.
“Our expectations have risen over the last five weeks,” said Colin O’Reilly. “Every single player went out there with the belief we were going to win.”
It was the player-coach’s three-pointer that followed up a Lehmon Colbert dunk for a real statement of intent — an 8-0 run for a deserved lead.
Then Tajfun rung the changes.
“They just blew us out of the water in the second quarter,” admitted O’Reilly.
The visitors put up 30 points in the second period to lead by 16 points. Slovenian international Sandi Cebular was central to the change in momentum and scored a game-high 26 points.
Hibernia once again reduced a double-digit lead back to a competitive margin in the third quarter with a 7-0 run. Roy Downey made his presence felt off the bench but was one of a number of players to take heavy knocks in contact with Tajfun and was soon forced out of action.
“Physicality and energy,” said captain Kyle Hosford. “They had both when they needed it and it made it easy for them to pull away.”
Hibernia coughed up 15 turnovers in the second half and were punished with 17 points from the free-throw line. It left O’Reilly in introspective mood. “We just weren’t able to pull it through. It’s something we’ll have to go back and look at and make a judgement on what we could have done as coaches.”
Kyle Hosford 13, Shawn Vanzant 5, Colin O’Reilly 12, Conor Grace 7, Lehmon Colbert 17. Substitutes: Adrian O’Sullivan 2, Roy Downey 5, Ciaran O’Sullivan, Patrick Lyons 2, Kevin Lacey 2, Luke Thompson, Keelan Cairns 8.
C Clark 8, S Cebular 26, S Sebic 6, J Parker 9, T Bolcina 4. Substitutes: Milan Sebic 4, I Drzic 5, Domen Bratoz 23, Dragisa Drobnjak 8.
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