Weekend Basketball Review

Templeogue certainly closed off 2016 with a bang as they came back from a shaky first half to win out 98-75 over DCU Saints in the Oblates.

For Head Coach, Mark Keenan, the New Year’s Eve win marked his side’s 12th win out of 12 games, leaving them as the only unbeaten side in the Men’s Super League, but Keenan stressed that they are taking each game as it comes.

“It’s great to win today but we’re looking at it as if the League is starting off again now, we need to forget about the 11 wins prior to today and take it one game at a time,” he reflected.

“It wasn’t pretty for a long stage of the game," he continued. "In the first half, they were beating us at everything. Our defence had to step up in the second half - and they did – we held them to 31 points so that was a great plus. Getting over the Christmas break always kind of disrupts your rhythm and flow. I’m delighted the way we came out in the second half, and put the game away.”

Meanwhile, Griffith Swords Thunder had to dig deep to maintain their second place spot in the League as Pyrobel Killester lead the way for three of the four quarters in their clash in the ALSAA.

“We were down 11 at half time, we weren’t playing well but we knew what we needed to do," said Swords Head Coach, Dave Baker. "I think the cobwebs are truly knocked off after today – all credit to Killester, they never gave up, but I think we dug deep on it and showed a lot of depth to come back against that run they had and win it out convincingly in the end.”

Elsewhere, it was neck-in-neck down in the arena in UL as Belfast Star just pipped the home side Radisson Blu UL Eagles by one point (64-65), while SSE Airtricity Moycullen had just six to spare over KUBS down in Galway (87-81).

On Friday night, a hugely impressive Trae Pemberton drove Garvey’s Tralee Warriors to victory over Cork neighbours, UCC Demons, netting 25 points for the Kerry side to ease them to victory.

Basketball Ireland Men's Super League

Garvey's Tralee Warriors 81-67 UCC Demons

Radisson Blu UL Eagles 64-65 Belfast Star

SSE Airtricity Moycullen 87-81 KUBS BC

Griffith Swords Thunder 85-64 Pyrobel Killester

Templeogue 98-75 DCU Saints

Detailed results:

Basketball Ireland Men's Super League

Garvey’s Tralee Warriors 81-67 UCC Demons
Top scorers Garvey’s Tralee Warriors: Trae Pemberton 25, Goran Pantovic 16, Kieran Donaghy 13
Top scorers UCC Demons: Adrian O Sullivan 22, Kyle Hosford 14, Ciaran O Sullivan 13
Half time score: Garveys Tralee Warriors 34-30 UCC Demons

Radisson Blu Ul Eagles 64-65 Belfast Star
Top scorers Radisson Blu Ul Eagles: Ryan Wilson 23, Jonathan Dogbo 15, Ronan Howlin 6
Top scorers Belfast Star: Dillon Stith 24, Keelan Cairns 18, Paddy McGaharn 9
Half time score: Radisson Blu Ul Eagles 45-30 Belfast Star

SSE Airtricity Moycullen 87-81 KUBS
Top scorers SSE Airtricity Moycullen: Patrick Lyons 20, Dylan Cunningham 19, Joseph Tummon 16
Top scorers KUBS: Brian Edwards 37, Kevin Foley 27, Conor James 6
Half time score: SSE Airtricity Moycullen 45-42 KUBS

Griffith Swords Thunder 85-64 Pyrobel Killester
Top scorers Griffith Swords Thunder: Conroy Baltimore 18, Jose Gil Narbon 16, Isaac Westbrooks 15
Top scorers Pyrobel Killester: Ciaran Roe 20, Pete Madsen 7, Eoin Kiernan 6
Half time score: Griffith Swords Thunder 38-49 Pyrobel Killester

Templeogue 98-75 DCU Saints
Top scorers Templeogue: Mike Bonaparte 25, Jason Killeen 24, Lorcan Murphy 13
Top scorers DCU Saints: Martins Provizors 24, Dan Heaney 14, Eoin Darling 10
Half time score: Templeogue 42-44 DCU Saints

Fixtures:

The Hula Hoops National Cup semi-finals take place in Cork next weekend. You can view the schedule here: http://www.basketballireland.ie/news-detail/10016166/