Basketball Ireland Weekend Review After Bord Gais Neptune got the ball rolling with a win Friday night against Templeogue (who while losing, did earn their third bonus point of the campaign) there was a day’s break for Premier League teams on account of the Gathering Shield in which the two Irish All-Star teams comfortably defeated the Welsh men’s and women’s sides at the National Basketball Arena in Dublin. Sunday then saw a return to club action with games across Ireland. Up north, Belfast Star continued their hugely impressive start to the season by notching yet another win, this time against Moycullen, making it three in a row for a club clearly enjoying their first season back in the top flight. Meanwhile, C&S UCC Demons proved too strong for Dublin Inter and kept their unbeaten record intact courtesy of a commanding 24 point win. The league’s only other unbeaten side, Killester, also preserved their perfect record with what must have been a hugely satisfying, if tense, three point derby victory over old rivals DCU Saints. Also in action this weekend in the Men’s Premier League were defending champions UL Eagles who travelled to Dublin to face UCD Marian. In what amounted to a surprisingly one-sided game, Eagles showed their class in collecting their third double digit win of the season. Men’s Premier League DCU Saints 81 – Killester 84 In a game that had all the elements that make basketball such an exciting and thrilling sport, Killester and DCU Saints played out a thrilling 81 to 84 contest Sunday afternoon in the DCU Sports Complex. A huge three pointer from Eoin Quill with two minutes remaining seemed to have given Saints the momentum to go on and win the game before the superb Michael Bonaparte answered with seven of his game high 39 points to seal the game for Killester. Saints could only manage a late lay-up from Eoin Darling as a response and will feel heartbroken to lose on a final score line of 81 to 84. “We escaped with one tonight,” admitted Killester head coach Jonathan Grennell after the game. “It is such a tough place to come and play and after having a good start, they thoroughly out-played us for the second half. “We did feel all game like Michael Bonaparte had a mismatch and that he was quicker than any of the guys they could throw at him and he came up big for us down the stretch.” Killester improve to four wins and no losses and sit atop the Premier League table on twelve points. DCU Saints 81(26) (E Quill 24, P Lynch 18, E Darling 15) Killester 84 (37) (M Bonaparte 39, C Roe 12, I Westbrooks 12) Dublin Inter 65 – C&S UCC Demons 89 C&S UCC Demons kept up their undefeated start to the 2013/14 season under new player/coach Colin O’Reilly by easily disposing of Dublin Inter by a comfortable 24 point margin. The win makes it a perfect three from three for O’Reilly’s charges, one week ahead of their much anticipated local derby with historic rivals Bord Gais Neptune. A featured of O’Reilly’s coaching so far this season has been his use of the bench and Sunday was once again no exception, with 11 players seeing court time for Demons. “It’s not a case of just doing it for some games, we are looking to play 10 guys in every game. That is how I see our rotation working,” revealed O’Reilly after the win. “We were able to get the result without anyone having to overdo anything which was nice. We mad Dublin Inter look bad at times but it was down to our hard work out there which was great to see.” Leading the way for Demons was inside American player Lehmon Colbert who finished the game with a double double of 21 points and 10 rebounds, a statistical line made all the more impressive when Dublin Inter’s vaunted front line of Mindaugas Tamusauskas and Aurimus Statkus are taken into consideration. Dublin Inter 65 (32) (A Statkus 14, M Tamusauskas 14, M Landos 9) C&S UCC Demons 89 (56) (L Colbert 21, C O’Sullivan 12, C Anon 12) UCD Marian 75 – UL Eagles 93 UL Eagles made a clear statement to all pretenders to the throne that they won’t be handing over their title without a fight following a convincing 18 point victory over UCD Marian in Dublin. “It was a great team performance in a game that we really controlled for the most part,” said Eagles head coach Mark Keenan. “Marian have an excellent squad of players so to come up here and get this result, I’m absolutely delighted with the effort that the lads put in.” While Eagles have lost several players from the league winning teams of the past two seasons, an experienced core has remained with two of those, Neil Campbell and Scott Kinevane combining for 32 points in the weekend’s win. “Those two lads plus Steven (King) and Delwan (Graham) are the experience core and have given the other guys the confidence to step in and play a really important role for us this season,” said Keenan. UCD Marian 75 (38) (T King 24, B Drumm 18, N Baynes 8) UL Eagles 93 (55) (D Graham 24, N Campbell 18, S Kinevane 14) Belfast Star 82 – Moycullen 69 Belfast Star continued their exceptional start to the season with their third win on the trot by seeing off a gallant travelling Moycullen team 82 to 69. Despite the win (which leaves them in the upper half of the table on three wins and one loss) Star head coach Jose Maria Berrocal was less than happy with his team’s performance after the game, knowing that tougher battles await them. “We won, which is important but we did not play well,” said Berrocal. “Sometimes we don’t play like we can. At practice we have been very good but need to bring that to the game. We did a bad job of reading the situation, who was scoring for them and focusing on that.” Berrocal will have been particularly displeased with how his young team handled Moycullen American Mike Callaghan, who ran riot in the first half for 29 points. Following a frank half-time discussion, Star tightened the reigns, limiting Callaghan to 6 points for the remainder of the game, providing the platform for the eventual 13 point win. “I think we know we can improve from this and sometimes you play bad and have to find a way to win,” said Berrocal. Belfast Star 82 (39) (P Dick 28, F Otis 14, M McKillop 10) Moycullen 69 (42) (M Callaghan 37, D Cunningham 22, E Maxwell 6) Bord Gais Neptune 71 – Templeogue 66 Premier League newcomers, Templeogue, almost caused a major upset in Cork over the weekend before settling for a losing bonus point against Bord Gais Neptune. While happy with the win, Neptune head coach Mark Scannell was under no illusions about the quality of his team’s performance afterwards. “We did some really silly things in that second half, trying to make the game over before it was,” remarked Scannell. “We are nowhere near the standard we were at last year when we won the cup and we will have to get ourselves right quick or we could be in for another tough night next Friday when we play Demons.” Scannell will be particularly worried about the damage Templeogue American Wayne Houston was able to do, connecting on 32 points and drawing numerous fouls on Neptune’s front line, which spent a large proportion of the second half on the bench as a result. While Houston’s performance was not enough for a famous first Premier League win for his squad, it did ensure a third losing bonus point for Templeogue, giving them three out of four games, the equivalent of one win. Bord Gais Neptune 71 (42) (D Townes 25,I McLoughlin 10, R Downey 9) Templeogue 66 (29) (W Houston 32, S Flood 11, C James 6) Men’s Premier League Bord Gais Neptune 71 (42) (D Townes 25,I McLoughlin 10, R Downey 9) Templeogue 66 (29) (W Houston 32, S Flood 11, C James 6) Saturday, October 26th Gathering Shield Men’s Premier League All-Stars 90 (46) (M McGinn 18, M Rudak 15, I Westbrooks 11) Wales 47 (25) (M Lord 11, J Adams 10, D Walsh 9) Men’s Division One Fr Mathews 64 (38) (M Coso 12, D Vusan 11, P O’Driscoll 9) C&S Blue Demons 75 (35) (D Murphy 16, C Cuff 15, S Buckley 13) Maree 71 (38) (K Hansberry 18, L Conroy 11, J Brophy 11) Team Garvey’s St Mary’s 51 (33) (D Wall 18, J Galvin 13, A Fitzgerald 12) Tolka Rovers 58 (24) (C Quinn 13, D O’Beirne 12, M Blanchfield 9) JM&L Auctioneers Titans 95 (41) (C Coyne 20, P Pelzdius 19, T Fabriciuss 12) Sunday, October 27th Men’s Premier League Dublin Inter 65 (32) (A Statkus 14, M Tamusauskas 14, M Landos 9) C&S UCC Demons 89 (56) (L Colbert 21, C O’Sullivan 12, C Anon 12) UCD Marian 75 (38) (T King 24, B Drumm 18, N Baynes 8) UL Eagles 93 (55) (D Graham 24, N Campbell 18, S Kinevane 14) Belfast Star 82 (39) (P Dick 28, F Otis 14, M McKillop 10) Moycullen 69 (42) (M Callaghan 37, D Cunningham 22, E Maxwell 6) DCU Saints 81(26) (E Quill 24, P Lynch 18, E Darling 15) Killester 84 (37) (M Bonaparte 39, C Roe 12, I Westbrooks 12) Men’s Division One Portlaoise Panthers 53 (19) (S Danso 22, P Fagan 7, J Scully 5) Team Left Bank Kilkenny 72 (35) (P Summers 24, P Morrissey 12, J Butler 11) Courtest ....Cian Nihill ....basketballireland.ie A short objective appraisal after just 4 rounds in this new (10 teams as opposed to last seasons 8) Premier (formerly superleague) has me of the opinion that the case for a separation of teams into upper and lower tiers can legetimately be made.A glance at the league tables signals this with Killester on top (4/0),Demons coming in second (3/0) followed by Neptune, U.L. Eagles and Belfast star all at 3 wins and 1 loss.The interesting aspect however going forward is that next weekend,s games see 4 of this top 5 competing against with Killester playing Star and Demon,s playing Neptune.The Division 1 competition on the other hand and remember this season sees the reintroudction of promotion and relegation is at least in terms of these earlier rounds pointing towards the better teams being Maree, Titans and Swords Thunder though it is important to note that because the playing level differential amongst the bulk of division 1 players is closer than that of Premier players that it can become easier for Div 1 teams to make up any lost league points as the season wears on (i.e. seeing Demons play Fr Matthews this weekend suggests to me that Demons are already making up for early season dropped games).
Posted on: Tue, 29 Oct 2013 11:55:53 +0000
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