Crusaders finally get off mark
Dublin side Crusaders finally attained a first win in the Women's Super League on Sunday, taking a deserved 47-37 victory at home over fellow strugglers Killester.
Both teams were playing good defence in a very low scoring game. Crusaders went well ahead to lead by 10 at half-time and despite a game-high 15 points from June Blount, Killester could not recover. Karen McDermott scored 3 3-pointers in the first half but went off injured in the second. However she had made her mark and Crusaders will be delighted to get their first points on the table, with Sinead Doyle helping herself to a team-best 14.
Meteors 65(40) 80(31) Tolka Rovers
Karen Hennessy 26 Rachel Kelly 22
Ann Marie Kyne 10 Denise Walsh 20
G Morris 10 Sharon Kelly 14
Avonmore Snowcream Wildcats 97(40) 39(21) Univ. of Limerick
Jillian Hayes 21 Gillian Aherne 14
Catriona White 21 Niamh Cleary 8
Chris Kiely 12 M Quilligan 6
Men's Super League
Team Kerry Spring Water 106(55) 103(51) Star of the Sea
Vince Daly 28 John Leahy 31
Robbie turner 26 Gareth McGuire 11
John Teahan 21 Javan Dupree 8An incredible buzzer beating three pointer from Vince Daly secured a dramatic victory for Kerry Spring Water against Star of the Sea in the Presentation Gym, Killarney last Saturday night. Just when the game was destined for overtime Daly's last gasp 'downtown' effort from three feet outside the three point line sailed through the net as the buzzer sounded. This second place top table clash drew a capacity crowd to the Killarney venue and was an absolutely thrilling match from start to finish. Fortunately the television cameras were there to record this heart stopping encounter and the highlights on TV3 on Monday night would be well worth watching. Kerry Spring started well through Robbie Turner and led 8-0 after two minutes but Star responded well with Americans John Leahy and Gabe Jackson to the fore and levelled the tie at 18 each with two minutes left in the quarter. Star's tactic's of a box and one defence against the free scoring Turner failed to work and Kerry Spring finished with a flourish with baskets from Turner, Terry Smith, John Teahan and Vince Daly to lead 29-18 at the end of the first quarter.
The home side maintained their advantage throughout most of the second quarter but tireles work form Leahy, Jackson, Dupree, Maguire and Fulton eventually paid off and the belfast side cut the gap to 43-40 with 4:15 left in the half. However Daly, Teahan, Smith and Horgan all scored to open up a nine point gap again, 53-44, with 1:28 left but a three from Leahy and late baskets from Fulton and Jackson reduced it to 55-51 at half-time.
Scott Summersgill and Gabe Jackson reduced the deficit even further and exchanges remained close throughout most of the third qurater. Leahy sank a hat-trick of three-pointers to help Star to a 73-78 advantage with one minute left in the quarter but Kerry Srping responded magnificently with a basket from Smith, a three from Turner and a Buzzer beater from Horgan to lead 80-78 as the game entered the final quarter.
Terry Smith had picked up his fourth foul with two minutes left in the third quarter and his direct opponent Gabe Jackson went on a scoring spree but Vince Daly was equally impressive in scoring returns and Kerry Spring led 88-84 with seven minutes left. A tactical move by the home side saw Cormac O'Donoghue picking up Jackson while Smith switched to mark Javam Dupree. It was a move that paid rich dividends as the games's leading marksman Jackson failed to score for a full five minutes thanks to a brilliant defensive job by the superb O'Donoghue.
A big three-pointer from Shane Horgan followed by two free shots from Turner had Kerry Spring leading 93-86 with 5:55 left. The Killarney side still led by seven, 97-90, with 3:30 remaining but Star's aggressive full court press forced the home side to turn over on successive occasions and baskets from Leahy, Maguire and Jackson cut it to 99-98 with 1:34 left.
Turner made two from the line but Leahy narrowed it to 101-100 with 46 seconds left. A big dunk from Terry Smith stretched it to 103-100 with 21 seconds left but Leahy sank his fifth three pointer of the night to level the game at 103 each with six seconds left. Following a time-out Kerry Spring's Vince Daly received the inbound pass near his own free throw line and raced up court to launch a spectacular shot that beat the buzzer and sparked off a massive court invasion by the ecstatic home supporters.
Dungannon 76(46) 89(39) Neptune
Brad Wedel 29 Ricardo Leonard 26
Chris Pagan 14 Rasuel McKune 21
Trevor Smullen 12 Stephen McCarthy 16This was a thrilling and sometimes tense encounter. Dungannon got off to a whirlwind start and with Brad Wedel, Trevor Smullen and Gary Connolly dominating the boards, had raced into a 16-2 lead after 5 minutes 12 seconds of the first quarter. When Stephen McCarthy landed a three from an assist from Jon D'Orlando, this seemed to steady Neptune and by the end of the quarter there were only 3 points in it, 24-21.
With the excellent Brad Wedel dominating, Dungannon still had the upper hand and led 46-39 at half time. Through the prompting of Stephen McCarthy, Neptune held sway in the third quarter and with Rasuel McKune and Ricardo Leonard lethal under the basket, Neptune went ahead. Just on the buzzer, the ref called a foul on Dungannon as McCarthy went to shoot. This incenced the Tyrone men. The ref called two technical fouls on the Dungannon Bench and coach, and McCarthy sank three from four from the free throw line to put them ahead 57-64 at the end of the quarter.
Neptune set up a tight defensive zone in the last quarter and Dungannon tried hard to break in but to no avail.Denny Notre Dame 93(79)(43) 87(79)(30) Waterford Crystal
Brian Benjamin 27 Reggie Scott 31
Kieran Dempsey 18 Roscoe Patterson 26
Eric Blair 14 Eamon Sheehan 9
John Fitzgibbon 9With about one minute to go in the third quarter Denny had opened a convincing twenty point gap 65-45, and it seemed that the homeward journey to Crystal City would take an eternity. And then in the next eleven minutes Crystal scored more points than they had done in the entire first half - 34 as opposed to 30 - and kept their opponents to just 14 points, and suddenly the game was locked at 79 each at full time.
The opening quarter was without incident. Patterson scored eight points and Denny’s live wire and top scorer Brian Benjamin scored another eight - swishing two threes from way out. But the important statistic at the end of the quarter was that Denny were in the lead 21-16. Four minutes into the second quarter and another three pointer from Benjamin and Denny were 30-20 ahead. Denny’s introduction of Dempsey added a new dimension to the game and his seven points in the quarter - 18 in the entire game - made one wonder why he was kept out of the starting five in the first place. Indeed as the quarter progressed it seemed that the two most dangerous players on court were Denny’s Benjamin and Dempsey. As for Crystal one also wondered where the scores would come from if either Scott or Patterson didn’t or couldn’t score. In the first half only Winkle (4) and Kavanagh and Cunningham with a basket each were to get on the scoreboard. A total of 30 points was poor return for twenty minutes play, whereas Denny had registered 43 points.
Denny went into a 60-39 lead with just four minutes left in the third quarter. Crystal were on team fouls and Patterson had picked up his third personal foul. And with just over two minutes to go in the quarter Kavanagh was carried off with an ankle injury and things looked ominous for the visitors. And when Denny upped their lead to 65-45 with just over a minute to go in the quarter it seemed that Crystal were in for a hiding. But then Patterson who had scored just two points from the free throw line in the quarter threw up two three pointers and the third quarter ended with Denny 65-51 in the lead. For much of the final quarter Denny maintained their considerable advantage -though two good baskets from captain, Eamonn Sheehan reduced the margin to ten points 75-65.
Then Patterson picked up his fifth person foul. And when Fitzgibbon missed two free throws with just three minutes left in the game, Reggy Scott took the game by the scruff of the neck. And out of the blue he sank three huge three pointers in a row, Fitzgibbon added a basket and Scott another three pointer; and with 40 seconds left in the game a stunned Denny were looking at a scoreboard that read 79-79. Jenkins threw up a shot in an effort to separate the teams but the last play of normal time fell to Crystal. Had they taken the ball to the basket they could well have drawn a winning foul; instead they opted for an outside shot which was off the mark and the game went into overtime. it was hard to see how a depleted Crystal could measure up to Denny in overtime. Benjamin again tortured and toyed with the Crystal defence and put Denny 82-80ahead. Then Reggy Scott hit his fifth three pointer to put Crystal back in the lead - for only the second time in the game. But former Crystal player Eric Blair who had only eight points in normal time scored three baskets in a row and that gave Denny an 88-85 lead. Sheehan missed his attempt and Fitzgibbon fouled Benjamin and the game was as good as over. Dempsey converted an uncontested layup - as did Cunningham - and the game was over with victory with the team that should have sealed it in normal time. Denny 93, Crystal 87.
Clare Jets 88(37) 101(52) Killester
Michael Ayanbadjejo 30 David Shoultz 46
Anthony Pieper 30 Calvin Morris 24
Lester Hunt 14 Ed Randolph 15Sligo Dairies 68(35) 84(50) Hibernian UCD Marian
Chris Doyal 33 Drew Cooper 25
Andy Meyer 23 Nevil Charles 15
Shane O'Meara 4 Pat Glover 14Sligo's dismal form continued. An abysmal 1st quarter left Sligo trailing by 19 points and desperately chasing the game from then on. Marian won the game easily.
Sunday 16th January
Esat Telecom Demons 74(34) 69(37) St Vincent’s
John Estick 25 Brian Tonkovich 20
Shane Coughlan 18 Stephen McGuirk 16
Joe McKenny 12 Ferdinand Williams 12
Players Fouled Out:
Karl Donnolly(2min)
Up until the final quarter there was never more than three points in the difference between the teams. Vincents led by 2 points at the end of the first quarter, 21-19. Defence was very good for both teams but Jon Estick still managed to do damage on the board. In the third quarter Demons took the lead and held it to the end for a determined win.Clare Jets 77(40) 82(42) Star of the Sea
Micheal Ayanbadjejo 24 Gabe Jackson 33
Lester Hunt 22 John Leahy 24
Anthony Pieper 16 Gareth McGuire 11This was a tight game throughout with Star always slightly in the lead. Gabe Jackson and Lester Hunt had great games.
Tolka Rovers 76(36) 79(50) Hibernian UCD Marian
Lennie McMillan 21 Mike Trimmer 24
Randal Mounts 21 Drew Cooper 20
Greg Haffner 15 Pat Glover 15Marian had a flying start to go ahead by 17 points in the first quarter, 19-36. Tolka was having a bad day on the boards. They chased Marian throughout the game and although they made a galant effort in the final quarter time and luck was not with them. They finished with a respectable if unfortunate 3 point defeat.
Sligo Dairies 73(40) 69(35) Burger King Limerick
Chris Doyal 30 Rock Winston 33
Andy Meyer 21 Kareem Lewis 15
Shane O'Meara 8 Mike Norris 16In stark contrast to the previous night's game Sligo took hold of the game from the outset, and despite being in foul trouble early on, and losing Meyer early in the 4th quarter and McMorrow with 2 minutes to go, held on for a rare victory.
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