Irish Giants suffer Swiss defeat

The Irish squad gathered in Geneva today hoping to claim their second win in five days and make it one step closer to Division A.

However, Irish dreams were shattered as they went down in an unexpected defeat, 76-57.

Although Ireland opened brightly, thanks to two points from Dan Callaghan in the first minute, their lead was short-lived as Switzerland raced ahead 7-2 after four and a half minutes.

Ireland failed to score for four minutes, after which Larranaga finally chipped in a three-pointer to keep Ireland in touch with 5.08 on the clock.

Dan Callaghan followed with two points of his own to level the game for the first time, 7-7.

With 2.42 on the clock, Mike Bree made a fantastic steal and went coast-to-coast only to be blocked by number 11, Thabo Sefolosha, from Switzerland.

Switzerland really upped their game and at this stage were completely marking Pat Burke out of the game.

They were getting the ball up the court fast and at the same time putting a lot of pressure on the ball up top.

This resulted in Ireland producing a lot of turnovers, which Switzerland capitalised on at the other end of the court.

Switzerland went on to claim seven unanswered points in the remaining two minutes and the first quarter ended, 14-7 to the home team.

The intensity of the first period continued in the second and Ireland were now playing full-court defence.

Chris Bracey and Cal Bowlder were introduced to the game and Larranaga and Callaghan were off.

Thabo Sefolosha opened the scoring with an impressive three after just 30 seconds of play.

Bracey retaliated with a strong drive inside to draw a foul and scored two, followed by two from the line by Cal Bowlder a minute later to bring the score to 11-17 in favour of the Swiss.

Seconds later, Sefolosha, who was pulling the strings all night for his side, was on the line and hit two for two.

A sudden spurt from Ireland saw two three-pointers in quick succession, from Moran and Bowlder, followed by a steal and full-court lay-up by Larranaga (who was back on), and the visitors trailed by one, 22-21 with 4.44 on the clock.

Ireland called a timeout and, coming out from the blocks, Vladimir Buscaglia, whose shooting accuracy was to cause problems for Ireland, sunk a big three to stretch the home team’s lead to three points.

Ireland introduced Conlon for height and Larranaga was switched to ball-carrier, but Switzerland took control once more.

Roman Imgruth was fouled on a three-point shot by Larranaga and found himself on the line shooting three, and made all.

Switzerland were screening well on offence to get players open for the outside shot, which was killing the Irish defence.

Buscaglia was again on fire from the arch and hit two threes in succession to go 34-21 ahead with 42 seconds remaining to the half-time break.

With eight seconds left, the dangerous Sefolosha, who scored a whopping 30 points against the Slovak Republic last Saturday, stole the ball in Ireland's court to draw a foul and score one.

The half ended 37-21, Ireland not producing a score for the final four minutes.

The third quarter was tight and Ireland were starting to find their form. Larranaga hit a superb three in the opening minute followed by two from Bree.

Maxime Jaquier and Buscaglia answered with threes of their own seconds later, both from screens from their offensive play.

It was no doubt a very physical game as Ireland were getting battered inside with the referees making questionable calls that were unfavourable to the Irish side.

As a result, Fitzpatrick decided to run plays with the view to getting open up top for the outside shot.

The Irish Giants starting to screen themselves and were also looking to get Pat Burke open inside.

It went basket-for-basket for the remainder of the quarter, with Ireland not succeeding in reducing the deficit.

Larranaga and Moran were shooting well and Mike Bree was doing a good job of driving inside.

Conor Grace was introduced to the game and instantly made his presence felt as he chipped in two with 1.22 on the clock, but it was not enough and the third quarter finished 62-39.

The final quarter saw the Irish take control from the offset. They scored eight unanswered points as Switzerland were kept scoreless for five minutes.

This was when Burke scored his first basket of the game.

Stephen Bachmann made a strong drive to the basket, scored, drew the foul and scored.

The score was now 66-47.

Ireland continued a scoring spree, inspired by Bracey, Conlon and Larranaga as Burke picked up his fifth foul.

Their efforts were in vain however, as Switzerland's lead was out of reach and the game was called to a close on a scoreline of 76-57.

Due to this heavy loss, Ireland will now face a huge task on Saturday at home in Dublin.

They will need to beat the Slovak Republic by at least 13 points to remain in contention for Europe’s top 16.