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The Irish Senior Men were beaten 58-67 away to Switzerland on Sunday night in the first of three upcoming European Championships qualification clashes.
But it was a double blow for the Irish team with key player Dan Callahan suffering a cruciate knee injury in the opening minute of the game, an injury which rules him out of Ireland's upcoming games against Finland and Iceland at the National Basketball Arena.
Jay Larranaga, Dan Callahan, Tim Kennedy, Jim Moran and Billy Donlon were Ireland's starters, while Maime Jaquier, Harold Mrazek, Patrick Koller, Stephan Bachmann and 6'10" Jonathan Edwards started for the home team. Callahan and Edwards went head to head in the top off, with Edwards getting the better of Dan, but Ireland settled into defense immediately and Jay Larranaga won the ball back from Ireland, but Kennedy missed the three-point attempt at the other end.
Then all Ireland's preparations for the game came undone, when with just 30 seconds played, Ireland's tallest player and co-captain Callahan came off injured. Callahan was rebounding when one of the Swiss players came down foot first on his knee. He was removed to hospital by stretcher before half time with a suspected cruciate knee injury.
With Callahan missing Ireland lacked presence under the boards, with Kennedy and Moran the only players pulling down any rebounds in the opening quarter. Jay Larranaga opened the scoring with 2
minutes gone, Switzerland's 6'10" centre Johnathan Edwards replying immediately with a score inside. The Swiss had done their homework and knew that Jay Larranaga and Kennedy were the outside shooters, and they found it almost impossible to get clear of their markers.Kennedy was fouled by Koller with 7.54 to go and made 1/2 , following up with a basket of the break seconds later to give Ireland a 5-2 lead. But that was to be Ireland's last lead of the game as two quick scores from Patrick Koller gave Switzerland a 6-5 lead and the Swiss stayed in front until the final whistle.
Ireland's defense was supberb in the opening quarter, and the lack of height inside did not factor greatly, with Jon Larranaga getting a block of the 6'10" Edwards jump shot inside the key, to set up Donlon
on the break, but Mrazek got a touch to Kennedy's shot at the other end. Ireland were working hard to get the ball to Jay Larranaga, but he was been man-marked by Backmanng with assistance from Koller and
Mrazek and Jon Larranaga's attempt to find his brother was intercepted by Mrazek who set up Edwards with a long pass, but Moran was down the court as quick and produced an audience pleasing flying
block on the big Swiss centre.Ireland were held scoreless for four minutes of play, as the home side made five unanswered baskets to run up a 12-5 lead with 3.12 left in the quarter. Billy Donlon drove inside against three and then dumped the ball back out to Larranaga who was left free of his man for the first time in the game and the Milano player swotted home his first three-pointer of the game. But Ireland's relief was short lived as the white hot Harold Mrazek hit a three-pointer in quick reply at the other end. Moran was Ireland's key player in the
last few minutes of the quarter, he grabbed a bucket inside and a three-pointer 22 seconds from the buzzer to cut Ireland's deficit to 5pts at the end of the quarter, Switzerland leading 19-14.The hosts hit a three-pointer at the re-start to extend their lead to 9pts, 22-14 and leave Ireland playing catch-up. Ireland had too many unforced errors and they made it far too easy for the Swiss at times. Yet another turnover on the half way line set up Ceresa on the break and he slam dunked it home to the delight of the home fans, Switzerland now 26-14 in front. Damian Sealy came into the game for Kennedy two minutes into the quarter, and had an immediate impact. He was fouled by koller and made 1 /2 at the line to move Ireland to 17pts (17-26). But Switzerland hit two consecutive three-pointers, from Jaquier and Sassella which hurt Ireland badly, that 6pt run moving them to a 15pt lead, 32-17 with 6.15 left in the half.
It was at this point that the effect of the size mismatch really showed. Ireland's guards were forced to slack off their men to help out inside, and that extra step or two gave the Swiss guards and power forwards that extra space to shoot the ball that was all they needed and Sassella and Koller hurt IReland badly in this quarter.
Kennedy hit his first and only three-pointer of the game, and followed up with 2 /4 at the line to help Ireland keep in touch, but they were outscored 22-14 by Switzerland in this period and the home side had opened up a sizeable 13pt lead by the half time whistle, Ireland trailing 28-41.
The Irish had their best period of the game in the second half, and a spirited start saw them cut back Switzerland's lead, and with just over 2 minutes gone, Mick Richardson cut it to a 10pt game with a pull up jump shot inside. Mick Bree was stripped by Koller on the 1/2 way line but Moran was up the court with Koller and there to provide the valuable block, Larranaga grabbed the rebound and set off Kennedy on the break at the other end.
But Koller enjoyed a run of his own with with 1 minute left in the quarter 5 unanswered points from the Swiss guard saw them extend their lead to 18pts, 53-35, Jay Larranaga adding two unanswered baskets from Ireland in the final 40 seconds to make it 39-53 going into the final period of the game.
Ireland were determined not to give up the game without a fight and Billy Donlon went up against three Swiss defenders to open the scoring for Ireland in the final quarter. With four minutes gone, Moran was fouled on a 3pt attempt, but could only make 1 /3 and Switzerland still led 56-42. Then Ireland were hit with another blow with Moran, who had a great debut game for Ireland, fouled out of the game with just under 6 minutes to go. Jon Larranaga hit his only 3-pointer of the game to kick start Ireland's best offensive period since the opening minutes. Kennedy's tenacious defence paid off when he had a steal off Koller on the half way line, he passed to Donlon who returned the favour and Kennedy sealed the close range
jump shot to make it a 11pt game, 47-58 with 5 minutes of play left.Just as Ireland were gaining the upper hand, Sassella was on hand to dent their ambitions with his third three-pointer of the game and Switzerland went 61-47 in front.
But Ireland kept at it and Donlon was involved in their next two scores, the first he made himself with a dummy and drive through the centre before pulling up for the jump shot, then he was involved at
the half way live forcing Jaquier into a turnover which Kennedy was quick to grab, he set up Larranaga on the far base. that score cutting it to a 10pt game, 51-61 with 4.12 on the clock. The few Irish fans in the gym were on their feets seconds later when Bill Donlon hit his only 3-pointer of the game to cut it to just 7pts, 54-61 with 3.33 on the clock.But Ireland were in foul trouble at this point, and Larranaga junior's foul on Marco Sasella sent him to the line, he made both to put it back to a 9pt game, 54-63 with less than 3 minutes remaining. Veteran Marc Thurig was fouled by Richardson, but missed both resulting free throws, but Jay Larranaga also drew a blank at the other end for Ireland, after he was fouled inside by Koller. Jon Larranaga picked up his 5th foul for an illegal screen with 2.18 to go and was replaced by Sealy.
Richardson brought it back to a 7pt game with a pull up jump shot inside the key, and Ireland won back possession at the other end with excellent defence from Sealy and Larranaga. But Donlon's 3pt attempt fell short, giving Switzerland posssion with 1.12 on the clock and a 7pt lead. Sassela's 3pt attempt was blocked by Kennedy, but Jay Larranaga missed a 3-pointer at the other end. Koller went to the line with 37 seconds to go after drawing a foul from Richardson, but missed both shots.
At the other end Sealy was on target - he made 2 / 2 to cut it to a 5pg game, 58-63 with 30 seconds remaining. But team fouls for Ireland saw Switzerland go to the line twice in the last 30 seconds, they scored 4/4 to take a 58-67 victory.
"We are going to have to regroup now, see what our situation is and make the neccessary adjustments to face Finland and Iceland now that Callahan is gone" said coach Bill Dooley after the game. "I thought
we could have done some things better in the game at both ends of the court, we sometimes rushed our offence and the Swiss took advantage of our errors. But I thought that the team adjusted well, the
injuries to our big guys earlier in the week and to Callahan today forced us to play players out of position both offensively and in the zone, and they adjusted very well."It was unfortunate that we could not match up in size to their big guys better" said team captain Jay Larranaga after the game "We ended up giving their guards so much more free space to shoot the ball
because our gaurds had to help out inside. I would have liked to play that game alongside Dan Callahan - I reckon he would have pulled down at least 12 big boards for us and it would have really helped us out there today."Switzerland 67(41) Ireland 58(28)
Tim Kennedy 14
Jay Larranaga 13
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