Jokubaitis the star as Tralee Warriors set up National Cup showdown with Ballincollig
Garvey's Tralee Warriors' Cian Sullivan celebrates winning. Pic: Tom Maher/Inpho
Garvey's Tralee Warriors booked their place in the Pat Duffy Men’s National Cup final following their impressive win over UCD Marian at the Neptune Stadium on Saturday.
In a highly entertaining contest, the Warriors showed true grit coming down the stretch before wearing down a brave UCD Marian side.
Many heroes for the Warriors but in Daniel Jokubaitis, they had a hero at both ends of the court, finishing as his side's leading scorer on 27 points.
The opening exchanges were explosive, with both sides executing with precision with the teams level at four points each in the second minute.
It was evident the Warriors were intent on playing a high-tempo game and with Jokubaitis showing nice touches, they led by the minimum - 10-9 - in the fourth minute.
The students were battling to stay in contention but following a Cian Sullivan basket and bonus, the Warriors commanded a 23-21 lead with 1.58 remaining in this period.
The closing two minutes were enthralling but the Warriors had a five- point cushion, 28-23, entering the second quarter.
On the restart, the Kerry side increased the tempo again as this understrength UCD Marian looked to be struggling to stay the pace.
The return of American Bruce Saintilus paid dividends for UCD when he nailed a three pointer but midway through the quarter, they still trailed by six points.
It was strange, despite the Warriors' dominance, UCD refused to lie down but that was down to poor defending from the Kerry outfit, allowing their opponents unchallenged lay-ups.
In the closing minutes, both teams made unforced errors as the Warriors led 44-36 with 26 seconds remaining before calling a timeout.
From the resultant possession, the Warriors came up short, missing two opportunities and despite having an eight-point cushion at the break, they will feel that with their dominance, they should have gone in with a bigger lead.
The halftime stats showed the Warriors shooting 28 inside the paint and making 14, but outside the paint, they had 3/13, a poor 23% reading.
UCD Marian had 14/28 inside the arc, but just like opponents shooting outside the arc, it was 3/13, a paltry 23%.
The Warriors got off to a flying start with a superb assist from Jordan Perkins to Jokubaitis, who was left with a simple lay-up.
On each occasion that the Warriors threatened to take control, UCD, inspired by the former UCC Demons American Zach Hinton, responded in style and the sides were level at 55 points each with three minutes remaining.
Hinton, shown the door by Demons, was truly outstanding and he looked a player with a point to prove in the manner he performed in this game.
In the closing two minutes, UCD had no professionals on court as their coach Ioannis Liapakis seemed insistent on giving rest to his key players.
However, American Saintilus returned for the closing 11 seconds and immediately picked up a charging foul following superb defending by Jokubaitis.
Heading into the final quarter the Warriors commanded a 60-55 lead and three minutes into this crucial period they extended their lead to nine points.
There is little doubt that when Tralee needed inspiration, Jokubaitis gave it to them, and with six minutes remaining, a monstrous three-pointer from the Lithuanian increased the lead to 12 points with UCD firmly on the ropes.
Coming down the stretch, it was a case of closing out the game as the Warriors will now head to the capital to face Ballincollig in the final on Saturday, January 17, at the National Basketball Arena.
D Jokubaitis 27, J Perkins 18, E Quigley 10, I Hunte 10.
B Saintilus 30, Z Hinton 27, S Fitzpatrick 7.
I Hunte, J Perkins, J Friel, J Fernane, D Bowler, J Burke, K Crowe, P Fleming, D Jokubaitis, S Bowler, C Sullivan, E Quigley.
J Keohoe, S O’Flynn, D J Conway, T Maguire, J Connaire, R Byrne, S Fitzpatrick, R Bolger, V Lovic, Z Hinton, B Saintilus, C Tiernan.
M Nazimek (Dublin), L Cassidy (Dublin), A Wickham (Dublin).
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