Blair on form as Denny maintain run
Denny Notre Dame 84(50) 72(40) Hibernian UCD Marian
Eric Blair 28 Drew Cooper 25
Brian Benjamin 19 Mike Trimmer 21
Ciaran Dempsey 13 Neville Charles 8Sprite Cup holders Denny Notre Dame warmed up for their fourth knock out tilt, by defeating Dublin rivals 84-72. An open exciting game of basketball in this local derby with the superior strength in depth of the Denny squad being the difference between the teams. For Denny Eric Blair dicovered the form that earned him the MVP award last season with 28 points and numerous rebounds while player-boss Anthony Jenkins controlled the tempo of the game from the outset.
Drew Cooper and Mike Trimmer tried gamefully for UCD Marian but with their Irish players only managing 26 points between them they were always going to struggle.
Hibernian UCD Marian 86(46) 77(43) Clare Jets
Drew Cooper 27 Lester Hunt 32
Pat Glover 25 Anthony Pieper 26
Mike Trimmer 24 Wilie Gallas 13Marian dominated the first quarter of the game playing with more confidence and better defence than in their Friday night game. Claire Jets came back in the second quarter to come within 3 points of the leaders. However in the third quarter Marian stormed ahead again with confidence and Clare Jets never took the lead from them. However their other American Lester Hunt had a great game, alas to no avail.
Star of the Sea 86(47) 76(35) Tolka Rovers
Gabe Jackson 29 Randal Mounts 32
John Leahy 19 Greg Haffner 14
Scott Summersgill 17 Lennie McMillan 13Star had a very good first half finishing 12 points up. Tolka came back in the second half with Randal Mounts dropping plenty off baskets. Adrian Fulton did well from the 3 pointer line. Tolka got into foul trouble in the final quarter with Randal Mounts, Greg Haffner, and Lennie McMillan all on 4 fouls each. Tolka then started to stop the clock using Paddy Boylan as their instrument. He quickly went onto 4 fouls. As a direct result of these fouls, Scott Summersgill picked up 6 points from the free throw line for Star, in the final 2 minutes.
Lennie McMillan was the coach for the game and Rovers seemed maybe to be saving themselves for Friday's cup match.
Neptune 108(50) 73(27) Sligo Dairies
Jon D'orlando 31 Chris Doyal 32
Rasuel McKune 22 Andie Meyers 19
Ricardo Leonard 19This game as a contest was over after the first quarter when Neptune raced into a 25-12 lead. Neptune continued to impress, outscoring Sligo in each of the three remaining quarters. Third quarter score 75-50 to Neptune. All nine players contributed to the scoring for Neptune in the second half.
Waterford Crystal 52(28) 66(29) Esat Telecom Demons
Reggie Scott 20 Joseph McKenny 20
Roscoe Patterson 10 John Estick 17
Eamon Sheehan 8 Braulio Arias Hernandez 14Demons are the team most likely to give a decent chase to Neptune, the league leaders. But, on their performance last Saturday night in the WIT in the McDonalds sponsored ESB superleague game they looked eminently beatable. Crystal started without their crucial point guard, Dean Kavanagh (injury) and Darren Sealy (family bereavement) and yet after the first five minutes of this disappointing encounter Crystal were 11-0 ahead. Reggy Scott, once again was in the forefront of everything good that was happening for the home side - scoring eight of those points. But Sheehan and Cunningham were also in there making their contribution and one sensed as much as hoped that Crystal were about to re-discover their team performance. But if the first five minutes belonged to Crystal, then the rest of the quarter belonged to the visitors as Esteck and McKenny found their rhythm. Crystal led 18-16 at the end of the quarter. A low scoring game was in prospect. The low-scoring scenario became a boring reality in the second quarter as neither side seemed capable of finding the hoops. It wasn’t for want of trying, either, as both defences picked up the pieces poorly assembled by hesitant offences. When Demons’s Coughlan's three pointer put the visitors ahead 19-18,Crystal’s captain, Eamonn Sheehan regained the lead for his side, but that, sadly, was the last time they led in the game, and Demons were 29-28 ahead at half time. In another code the score would surely have read 0-0, with both teams considering themselves lucky to be even zero. While Crystal’s defence has been a positive feature of their game these past two seasons, yet their preponderance to concede an abundance of fouls can only be described as a worrying development. More worryingly still in this game was the fact that Reggy Scott picked up his fourth personal early in the second half and that could only serve to compromise his contribution on the court. Rosco Patterson’s game was developing into a bit of a nightmare, by half time he had just managed five points and he failed to add to his tally in the third quarter. While he rebounded well (15) some of these same rebounds were picked up as a result of his own missed chances. One can only hope that with a game total often points he was holding himself back for this coming week-end. 52 points at the end of 40 minutes play is an abysmal return by any standards. When the team looks at their collective statistics they will see that they scored just 23 of their 83 attempts giving them a scoring average of 28% - not the kind of percentage that wins games. They only shot 3/30 three pointers - a similar statistic was recorded in their game against Sligo. To say there is room for improvement in this aspect of their game might be the understatement of the millennium! Crystal only scored 3/6 from the free throw line whereas Demons made11/15. Food for thought. If Crystal’s scoring was painfully low in the first two quarters then no words can be found to describe their third quarter return of eight points to Demons 19, which gave the visitors a comfortable twelve points going into the home straight. It also gave them the critical psychological advantage going into the final quarter. Crystal reduced the margin to seven points 48-41 but that was as near to victory that they got and Demons did more than enough during the last few minutes to put the game out of reach of the home side. Crystal tried numerous three pointers but they had about as much conviction about them as a snowstorm in August, and Demons were overjoyed to win 66-52. The last time Crystal scored 52 points they beat Neptune in a pulsating 52-51 game - no such joy at the end of this one as Michael Evans hopes his charges will come good this week-end in the Sprite Cup games. Hope springs eternal!
St Vincent’s 99(52) 80(20) Kerry Spring Killarney
Ferdinand Williams 23 Robbie Turner 23
Brian Tonkovich 15 Shane Horgan 10
Carl Donnolly 15 John Teahan 10Vincent's shot ahead from the starting whistle with a first quarter score of 28-8. They continued in this fashion going 32 points into the lead at half time. Their defence was excellent with Ferdinand causing difficulty for Killarney with his blocking.
Vincent's went through the motions in the second half with everyone on the bench getting their game. Mark Keenan was out of action for Vincent's with a calf muscle injury but he will hopefully be back in action for next week Sprite cup.Killester 95(54) 80(29) Dungannon
Damon Shoultz 29 Brad Wedel 21
Calvin Morris 21 Matt Collins 21
Paddy Kelly 11 Gary Connolly 12
Simon Behan 11Killester played their full rotation of players in an easy win over Dungannon. The home team had a bad start, during which we saw them trail 9-2. They then upped the tempo and at the end of the first quarter they were leading 26-16. They kept this pace up and were leading at half time 54-29. There was no stopping Killester from then on. They went into a 40 point lead at the end of the third quarter,73-33. They then took things easy in the final quarter for a comfortable win.
Denny Notre Dame 80(35) 71(37) Burger King Limerick
Anthony Jenkins 21 Rock Winston 27
Brian Benjamin 21 Kareem Lewis 13
Eric Blair 20 Mike Norris 11Denny continued their winning ways with a hard fought win over Limerick at the National Basketball Arena. Although always seeming to be in control they did not make their superiority count until the last 5 minutes when a big three pointer from Anthony Jenkins and some great work from Brian Benjamin put some daylight between the teams. For Limerick Rock Winston was outstanding with 27 points, but after a bright start both Mike Norris and Kareem Lewis faded.
Denny's better balance was emphasised by the fact that four of their players were in double figures.
ESB Women's SuperLeague
Avonmore Snowcream Wildcats 81(31) 44(25) Meteors
Jillian Hayes 16 Karen Hennessy 12
Catriona White 14 S Harvey 7
Orla Dempsey 13 Ann-Marie Kyne 6
Ciara Harvey 6Crusaders 40(20) 78(45) Tolka Rovers
Helen Taylor 14 Sharon Kelly 21
Sinead Doyle 12 Vanessa Burke 14
Suzanne McCauley 6 Angie McNally 10
Rachel Kelly 10Univ. of Limerick 57(22) 54(28) Killester
Nollaig Cleary 18 Marie Thompson 14
Nicola Farrell 13 Sinead Vaughan 12
Ursula Kyne 8 Gillian Ennis 10The game was slow to start with both teams taking time to settle.
Frances shiely got UL off to a fine start with a three pointer. Gillian
Ennis (Killester) was playing well inside scoring six of their thirteen
points in this quarter. UL were down one point at the end of this quarter 13
-12 pts. In to the second quarter and Nollaig Cleary was playing very well
and got some fine scores for UL on the fast break, just on the buzzer of
half - time Leesa Grennell was fouled outside the three pointer line , she
made her three free throws and so the score at half time was UL 22 ,
Killester 28.At the start of the second half and UL picked up the intensity on defense , gettingsome turnovers which lead to them getting some fine baskets. Killester did not give up easily and it was basket for basket. Nicola Farrell got some
excellent scores inside at vital stages of this quarter which kept UL right
in the game. At the end of the quarter Nollaig Cleary stole the ball on the
half way line made her basket and her foul shot to put just three points
between them at 39-42 .In the final quarter, UL made their offensive chances come from the excellent defense that they were playing , they worked the ball well when on the attack and when fouled by Killester. UL punished them from the line with Eimear Kyne making three from four and Ursula Kyne making two from two. With less than two minutes left Maire Thompson (Killester) scored a three pointer to tie the game at 53pts. Then again Nollaig Cleary scored on the break and Nicola Farrell sealed it with a fine basket from inside.
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