Killester top league, Ballincollig record wins over Neptune and Tralee
GOOD WEEK: Adrian O'Sullivan, Irish Guidedogs Ballincollig @MTU in action against Flexachem KCYMS at the MTU Arena. Picture: Larry Cummins
Killester have jumped to the top of the league standings, thanks to a home 97-87 win over UCC Demons. The Dubliner’s star trio of Kason Harrell, Paul Dick and Isiah Dasher delivered once again with 75 points between them. Harrell in particular was excellent with 35 points as Killester’s offensive fire power was too much for a Demons team playing their second game in 24 hours.
Without Kyle Hosford and David Lehane, the ask was too much for Demons. Despite the loss, Demons had a solid weekend, with a good win over Killorglin and new American Patrick Robinson looks like a great scorer who will compliment Elijah Tillman well. Robinson had 32 against Killester after scoring 29 on Friday against Killorglin, he’s not as big as Sean Clancey which might cause issues against some teams but he’s creative and aggressive which Demons fans will love.
Ballincollig had their best week of the season as they recorded big wins over Neptune (78-71) and Tralee (83-80). Adrian O’Sullivan was a big factor in those wins as he averaged 17 points across the two games which gave the league’s second lowest-scoring offense a big lift. Quashawn Lane has settled in for the Cork side and their offense is slowly catching up with their defense which leads the league in points per game. All five of Ballincollig’s wins this year have been in MTU and with their next four games on the road Ballincollig need to start winning on the road to solidify themselves as a playoff team.
Tralee have now lost two in a row, heading into next week’s Cup quarter-final with Demons. This time they had Marquavin Stephen’s and Gregario Adon who missed the Sligo loss but despite Stephen’s 36 they didn’t have enough to break down Ballincollig. Gregario was largely ineffective with eight points and Tralee’s second American Brandon Mahan was poor with just six points. Mahon has been largely ineffective this year offensively, and outside of a high-volume shooting night against Sligo he has looked a step off what Tralee usually have.
Portlaoise got a signature win over an inform Glanmire team on Friday night. A Friday evening road trip is always tricky in Ireland and Glanmire’s task was made more difficult by missing their influential American Callie Cavanagh. Without the league’s 3rd leading scorer, Glanmire struggled down the stretch scoring just 3 points in the last 7 minutes as the Panthers earned a crucial win that now draws them level with the Cork side on 4-3. Jessica Fressle deserves a lot of credit for her 27 points, but it was the depth of contribution from Portlaoise that ultimately got them the big
win.
Fr Mathews got their best win of the year thanks to a brilliant defensive display and great contributions from Niamh and Grainne Dwyer offensively. Missing Ieva Bagdanaviciene, Killester have now lost back-to-back games in Cork and their title defense may be in jeopardy. With Bagdanaviciene out, the offense needed big performances from the rest of Killester’s core and with Destiny Strother only managing 3 points, there just wasn’t enough scoring to get them through a tough road test. Killester will need to dust themselves off as they have a huge test ahead with Glanmire in the Cup and Liffey then in the league, the next two weeks could decide their season.
It was a good night for two of the league’s bottom teams as they beat Eanna and Sligo respectively. Marian got a huge performance from former U20 Cup MVP Colm O’Reilly who led them with 18 points over a shorthanded Eanna side who ran out of gas in the fourth quarter. Eanna got great production from Sean Jenkins, but the influence of senior Irish players like Mark Reynolds and Neil Lynch was made obvious in their absence. Marian have had a number of solid performances but have come up short so getting a win like this will be a big boost ahead of a tough run into Christmas.
Templeogue got their second win of the year as they shocked Sligo in the Arena. Sligo never got going, scoring a season low 66 points with a poor 5/33 from three being the main reason. The usually reliable English point guard Tom Childs had a forgettable 1/14 performance from three, and Sligo were definitely guilty of underestimating the Dublin side who got their usual 59 points from American’s Allen and Fagan.
Sligo have shown an ability to be amazing when threes are falling and have occasionally lacked a plan B when they aren’t. Against a team without a big inside presence it’s hard to understand how Jevonie Scott wasn’t more dominant, especially as he showed what he can do in a 30-point outing over UCD
Marian just two weeks ago.
Neptune ended their recent skid with just their 2nd win in eight games, beating Vincent’s 90-84 in Cork. Jaksa Sola’s return has been critical and new American Chance Hunter looks to be a very solid player scoring 26 to lead Neptune.
Pat Price spoke postgame about a transitionary period for the team over the past couple of weeks and Neptune fans will hope a corner has been turned ahead of next weekend’s home Cup quarter-final against Killester. It was more of the same for Vincents, as they came close without the reward they wanted.
New head Coach Sean Ingle, son of legendary DCU Mercy Coach Mark Ingle, got his Super League coaching career off to the perfect start with a tense win over Maree in Belfast. Darewshi Hunter came through in the fourth quarter scoring 10 of his 28 to help get Star over the line. Maree pushed hard and American Joshua McGettigan showed some real ability but the lack of depth for the Galway side is a big concern with Joe Mveuzolo gone from the team.
With Templeogue winning, Maree now need to win four more games than Vincents and Templeogue just to catch up with them, thanks to the 18-point deduction they were given.
