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Spirred by defensive fortitude, Ireland took a step closer to their target of advancement in Europe on Saturday night, their 70-57 victory over Iceland in Dublin leaving Bill Dooley's men with a 2-1 record after the first tranche of qualification matches.
Ireland host Switzerland on the 25th of August, before going on the road to Finland and Iceland to complete the six-game group.
“There is no denying that it is going to be tough in August,” said Dooley “but we are finishing this round on target with a 2 and 1 record and we will be ready for whatever we have to face come those games”
Jay and Jon Larranaga, Tim Kennedy, Jim Moran and Billy Donlon again were Ireland's starters. Jon Larranaga was up against Iceland's big inside player Fridik Stefansson in the jump, but won the jump, tipping it back to his brother Jay, who set up Moran inside, but the William & Mary player was blocked by Olafsson.
Friik Stefannsson opened the scoring seconds later after his namesake Jon Arnor Stefannsonn set him up for an inside score. Iceland made it 5-0 through Guoffinsson and it looked like they might start to dominate the game. But Jay Larranaga stepped up the pace, driving to the basket against three defenders before dumping it back out to Billy Donlon who got Ireland off the mark with a shot just inside the three-point line. Jon Larranaga and Jim Moran were working really hard under the boards for Ireland and their excellent defence held the Icelanders scoreless for over 2.30.
At the other end scores for Kennedy and Jon Larranaga at the free throw line saw Ireland level the game at 5 apiece with 6.30 to go in the quarter. Kennedy then gave Ireland their first lead of the game with 5.20 to go with a three-pointer. Jon Arno Steffansson, the Top Scorer and MVP at the Junior Men's championship in Dublin two years ago was Iceland's most dangerous player in this period and he was involved in both of Iceland's next three scores, scoring the first and setting up big Fridik Stefannsson for the next two, including a spectacular dunk as Iceland went 15-8 in front with 3.40 to go in the quarter.
Jay Larranaga stepped up his game and scored 5pts without reply to level the game at 15 apiece with 1.16 on the clock, and scored another 3-pointer just before the buzzer to give Ireland a 20-17 first quarter lead and bring his tally to 8pts in the quarter.
Iceland took the lead again with 2 minutes gone in the second quarter with a 3-point score from Mangusson. Their speed off the ball made them hard to mark, and Ireland were forced to work hard in this quarter. Midway through the quarter the Iceland coach rested Jon Steffansonn – and without him on the floor, Iceland lacked that danger inside. Damien Sealy put Ireland back in the lead with a 3-pointer with 4 minutes remaining and the lead changed hands right up to the final few seconds when Jimmy Moran scored 2/2 at the line to give Ireland a 37-34 lead going into the half time break.
Ireland played some of their best basketball at the start of the second half. Steffansson opened the scoring for Iceland with a reverse hook inside in the opening minute – but Ireland held them scoreless for the next 6 minutes of the game and built up their biggest lead of the game in that period. Tim Kennedy had two successive three-pointers to make it 43-36 with 7.54 remaining in the quarter. Ireland’s superb defence forced Iceland into two 24-second violations and at the other end Jon Larranaga drew the foul from Olaffsonn. He could only make 1 /2 however, to make it a 8pt game, Ireland leading 44-36.
Ireland should really have put the game beyond Iceland at this point, but their offence hit a slump, and they missed out a some excellent chances to extend their lead. With three-minutes to go, Iceland got back into scoring mode, and they head two successive three-pointers to cut it to a 2pt game, 44-42 with 2.30 on the clock. Kennedy hit back with a 3-pointer for Ireland to make it 48-50, but Iceland brought it back to a 2pt game with another 3-pointer from Guoffinsson just before the end of the quarter, setting up a dramatic finale.
Both sides looked tired at the re-start and it was a very scrappy first few minutes before Adrian Fulton gave an inspired assist inside to his Killester teammate Damien Sealy to make it 54-48. Jay Larranaga came back into the game for Damien Sealy and scored with his first touch of the ball to extend Ireland’s lead to 6pts, 54-48 with 5 minutes to play. Iceland came back at the Irish again with their 9th three-pointer of the game, and a 3rd for Guoffinsonn to make it 54-53 with 4 minutes remaining.
But Ireland scored two successive three-pointers of their own from Tim Kennedy and the first of the night for Billy Donlon to make it 66-55 with 3 minutes to go. Donlon followed up his three-pointer with excellent defence on Guoffinnssonn which forced him out of bounds and gave possession back to Ireland, and at the other end Jimmy Moran scored Ireland’s 3rd three in less than a minute to make it 63-55 with 2.32 to play.
Donlon was again to the fore with a steal under Iceland’s board, he was fouled by Olafsson to give Ireland another valuable possession. Jay Larranaga was on target to bring Ireland’s tally to 66pts. Billy Donlon made 1/ 2 at the line with just over 1 minute to go, Iceland fought back through Stefannsonn with a lovely inside reverse hook, but Jay Larranaga put the game beyond doubt with his 4th three-pointer of the night and it finished 70-59 to Ireland.
“ I can’t say enough about this bunch of guys” added Bill Dooley after the game. “To have had the run in we had and lose the players we did and still end up 2 and 1 is pretty incredible and is really due to the determination and spirit of these players”
Team Captain Jay Larranaga felt the team' defence was the key.
“We played a really tough man-to-man defence for the entire game” said Larranaga “We knew they could really shoot from outside, and we had to close them down. Bill and Tim hit some really good three-pointers and it was a big win for us."
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