Demons dominate Saints

UCC Demons’ tipped off their SuperLeague National Cup campaign by edging out DCU Saints by a 15-point margin today.

Spectators got their fill as the game continued neck and neck until Demons took the upper hand halfway through the third quarter.

Head Coach Luke D’Alessio was extremely pleased with his side’s effort as he considered it a team contribution.

“We played great defense today and were able to substitute a lot of our bench players who worked hard,” said D’Alessio.

“Being able to have a nine-man rotation allowed us to take them out of their game a bit”.

Meanwhile, opponents DCU Saints’ head coach Vinny O’Keefe was less than pleased with his sides’ lack of intensity for such an important game.

“The things we talked about, we didn’t do this game,” he said.

“They destroyed us on every aspect of the game. The three most important things – rebounding, stopping their drive and intensity – we had none of them.”

“It shouldn’t matter who we are playing, we need to have more intensity,” added O’Keefe.

“Demons were, by far, the better team. We need to go away from this loss and go back to the drawing board.”

However, D’Alessio was pleased at the all-around effort made by each player.

“Our main goal was to take them out of their game and keep them off the boards and we did just that,” he said.

“They are a very deep, very physical team and I am extremely happy with the win today.”

Yesterday, Hoops booked their place in the quarter finals at the expense of Moycullen with a superb performance from USA powerhouse, Carlton Aaron who netted 48 points.

Despite an even scoreline at half-time Hoops were backed by the confidence of the surprise win from their last clash away to UCC Demons.

“It was a tough, scrappy game,” said head coach Ahmad Smith. “Both teams had to get themselves going and it was messy but we managed to get a win.”

Hoops were down in the fourth quarter by as much as 10 points with six minutes to go but coach Smith believed both American stand out Carlton Aaron and guard Joey Haastrup played the biggest roles in stepping up.

“Haastrup played a really great game. When we were down he drained some important shots that brought us back up.” said Smith.

“Obviously Carlton Aaron had an outstanding game. With him in the middle of the post he was hard to guard and Moycullen kept fouling and sending our side to the free throw line. Having him in the post really helped us out on the boards.”

Moycullen’s standout player Cian Nihill was in top form by netting 21 points in the defeat but the sharp shooter was a player that coach Smith was worried about.

“Nihill is a tough player and we wanted to take him out of his game,” added Smith, “He was still able to find a way to score and we knew that if he kept going, he is very hard to stop.”

In the only Nivea For Men’s SuperLeague game of the weekend, Killester sailed past a visiting Belfast Star on a scoreline of 95-75.

With four of Killester’s players scoring in double digits, head coach Mark Keenan did not believe the score line reflected the actual game.

“It was a sloppy first half and then we turned it around in the second half which I think was more to the style we are supposed to play,” said Keenan. “But it was important for us to get a win and get back a positive vibe going.”

Despite Belfast Star’s American, Philip Perre’s 20-point contribution, Star head coach Danny Fulton stressed the importance of finishing the game strong.

“We were leading for most of the game but the final score line does not reflect what really happened”, followed Fulton, “we played well for three quarters but didn’t finish the game.”