Vincent's stun Neptune
with McGuirk blasting
St. Vincent's gave their quest to finish
in second place in the ESB men's Super League a huge boost by inflicting
only the third reverse upon Neptune this season with a 88-82 victory at
Glasnevin.
Neptune started far the stronger and Vincent’s
were trailing 17-11 after just five minutes. Neptune extended their
lead to 22-11 with 3 minutes left to play in the game as Vincent’s struggled
to contain the champions inside. Then Vincent’s stepped up their
game and baskets from Williams and McGuirk brought them back into the game
with Dave Donnelly making it a 1pt game 21-22 with 1.23 to go in the quarter.
With 54seconds on the clock Donnelly scored 1 from 2 at the free throw
line to see Vincent’s trail by just 2pts 22-24, but Gordon Fitzgerald scored
two excellent drives to give Neptune a 6pts vantage going into the second
quarter.
Williams was working very hard to control
the power of Ricardo Leonard under the boards and he enjoyed some superb
blocks in the game. Williams made it 26-28 with 7.50 to go in the
half and Stephen McGuirk levelled it for the first time in the game at
28-28 with 7.23 to go when he scored from the rebound of his own missed
shot. Neptune were on foul trouble early in the quarter and Vincent’s
were keen to capitalise. McGuirk gave Vincent’s their first lead
of the game with 7.11 to play in the half and Vincent’s further extended
their lead to 5pts 37-32 when captain Mark Keenan was set up for an easy
basket by Williams. But Neptune were not letting Vincent’s walk away
with it and Rasuel McKune made it a one point game 39-38 with a slam dunk
with 1.53 remaining on the clock.
Brian Tonkovich fell awkwardly on his back
with 1.30 to go and had to sit out the quarter while a three pointer from
Jon D’Orlando ensured Neptune trailed by just 1pt, 42-41 going in at the
half time break.
The second half started with both sides
playing tenacious defence and there was little between the sides.
Ricardo Leonard, who would lead his team on 21 points, put Neptune back
in front 49-51 with 6.18 to go before a three-pointer from McGuirk gave
Vincent’s back the 1pt lead. The tension between the sides was intense
and Rasuel McKune picked up his fourth foul with 3.13 to go in the half
and sat out the remainder of the quarter. Brian Tonkovich hit a big
three pointer to give Vins a 4pt cushion 59-55 with 2.34 remaining and
Dave Donnelly scored 2 from 2 at the line to increase the lead to 6pts.
Brian Tonkovich managed a dare devil rebound from almost out of bounds
and grabbed a sneaky score and the bonus shot to extend the home teams
lead to 7pts 64-57 with just under 2 minutes to go. Gordon Fitzgerald
picked up his third foul with 31 seconds to go and was blown for a technical
foul as well for protesting which pushed him onto 4 fouls. McGuirk
made all four free throws and Vincent’s finished the quarter with a 68-57
lead.
Dave Donnelly put Vincent’s up 74-63 with
5 minutes to go in the game. 10pts remained the difference between
the teams until March Wally’s big three-pointer cut it to 80-72 with 1.59
to go. Williams picked up his 5th foul with 1.45 to play and Stephen
McCarthy cut Vincent’s lead to just 5pts with 1.16 to go Then McGuirk,
who had been inspirational for Vincent’s en route to game-high 27 points,
made another three-pointer to put Vincent’s ahead 83-75. Neptune
sontinued to battle and a three from McKune kept them in touch, but he
soon fouled out with 19 points and Vincent’s held on for the win.
Round Up
Esat Telecom Blue Demons 96
72 Team Sligo Dairies
John Esteck 29
Andu Meyers 28
Joseph McKenny 20
Chris Doyal 18
Braulia Arias Hernandez 17
Tolka Rovers 94 81 Killester
Kerry Spring Killarney 93(54) 88(43)
Dungannon
Terry Smith 29
Brad Wedel 26
Robbie Turner 25
Chris Pagan 25
Vince Daly 15
Mark Collins 17
Despite having American Robbie Turner disqualified
after just tow and a half minutes of the second half, Kerry Spring still
managed to overcome Dungannon in Killarney bast Saturday night. The home
side were always in control in this game and led 25-17 at the end of the
first quarter. With Turner hiking 25 points in the first half they led
54-43 at half time. Turner was then ejected 2 and a half minutes into the
second half with Kerry Spring leading 58-46 but Stephen Foster made a notable
impression off the bench. Terry Smith, Vince Daly, Cormac O’Donoghue and
Shane Morgan stepped it up for Kerry Spring to break away and lead 76-58.
They were 76-62 in front entering the last quarter. Dungannon never gave
up and eventually reduced the deficit to four points but Kerry Spring held
on in the end.
Hibernian UCD Marian 86(38)
97(58) Neptune
Pat Glover 29
Rasuel McKune 32
Huey Futch 19
Stephen McCarthy 20
G Edge 13
Ricardo Leonard 20
St Vincent’s 91(39) 79
Waterford Crystal
Brian Tonkovich 25
Reggie Scott 27
Ferdinand Williams 19
Roscoe Patterson 24
Stephen McGuirk 17
Dean Kavanagh 12
Clare Jets 78(33) 84
Denny Notre Dame
Anthony Pieper 27
Eric Blair 32
Lester Hunt 22
Anthony Jenkins 24
Mike Hickey 9
Ciaran Dempsey 13
Esat Telecom Demons 90(33) 56(24)
Clare Jets
John Esteck 30
Anthony Pieper 15
Braulia Arias Hernandez 17
Lester Hunt 13
Joe McKenny 16
K O’Connor 4
Killester 75(62)(26) 67(62)(37) Waterford
Crystal
Damon Shoultz 25
Reggie Scott 26
Paddy Kelly 15
Roscoe Patterson 15
Calvin Morris 11
Dean Kavanagh 7
Eamon
Sheehan 7
Waterford had a good first half going
11 up by half time. Killester came back strong in the second half and at
the end of the second half Waterford were in the lead at 61-60. Waterford’s
David Cunningham was fouled and was on the line with 7 seconds on the clock.
He missed the first and scored the second. Killester’s Simon Behan went
up the other end of the court and scored a layup on the buzzer to tie the
game.
Unfortunately for Waterford, Killester
took it away in overtime.
Star of the Sea 89(46) 78(41)
Burger King Limerick
John Leahy 32
Rock Winston 40
Gareth McGuire 25
Mick Norris 15
Gabe Jackson 16
John Galvin 12
Both teams played very scrappy basketball.
One good thing to be said is that the free throws were of a very high standard
with both teams missing only one. Star led throughout the game leading
24-16 at the end of the first quarter and 65-57 at the end of the third
quarter. Rock Winston had a very good game scoring 16 points in the first
half and 24 in the second half. He also kept Jackson well under wraps.
Star played their bench even in the first half.
Women's Super League:
Tolka so close
Tolka Rovers 78(37) 46(20)
Crusaders
Rachel Kelly 17
Emma Pierce 19
Elaine Skally 15
Sinead Doyle 10
Vannesa Burke 15
H Taylor 10
Tolka Riovers now lie just one win short
of picking up the Super League title after shaking off their recent slump
for a 78-46 win over basement dwellers Crusaders.
Killester 66(37)
50(22) University of Limerick
Sinead Vaughan 18
Ursula Kyne 17
Gillian Ennis 16
Nicola Farrell 11
June Blount 14
Killester treated their home fans to one
of their best displays of the season when accounting for a good University
of Limerick team in a competitive match in Clontarf. Limerick went into
an early lead but Killester played excellent defence. With June Blount,
Sinead Vaughan and Gillian Ennis in top form went ahead and won each subsequent
quarter. Limerick rallied but Killester, giving an overall excellent display,
held out comfortably.
Sunday 5th March
