Ireland roll Swiss

Ireland came away with victory from a tight match against Switzerland at the ESB Basketball Arena last night, and now travel to Bratislava for their forthcoming match against Slovakia on Saturday.

Although leading by four points at the end of the second quarter, the Irish struggled to find form and to contain a Swiss team who shot five three-pointers over the course of the first half, Buscaglia in particular proving a handful.

That four point lead was in no small part thanks to the spark generated by forward Jimmy Moran, ending the half with 10 points and two steals.

Pat Burke provided strength in defence as Ireland's leading rebounder, while captain Jay Larranaga and Dan Callahan each chipped in 10 points.

The third quarter was another close affair with the teams trading points, although Ireland did manage to squeeze further ahead thanks to some excellent play by Marty Conlon in the final minute.

With the scores at 60-54 in favour of Ireland, the fourth quarter proved how much stronger, deeper and more experienced the Irish squad was, with the experience of Pat Burke and Marty Conlon really coming to the fore.

A piece of Billy Collins magic in the second minute of the quarter set Ireland on the way, as he scored a two-pointer and a three-pointer, claiming a rebound in between, to put the score at at 68-56.

Ireland were dominant and had it not been for the three-point scoring by the Buscaglia for the Swiss, they would have been out of sight. But the game finally ended with a score of 79-68 to Ireland.