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Ireland's opening gambit in the upper echelons of European basketball nearly brought a stunning upset as Bill Dooley's men gave 2001 semi-finalists Germany a major scare before falling 85-79. A combination of controversial refereeing calls and a floor that resembled an ice-rink on more than once occasion didn’t help Ireland’s cause, but it was a brutal second quarter performance that really cost the Irish the chance of an stunning upset.
Ireland started by far the stronger; with a white-hot Mike Mitchell building up an early Irish lead thanks to some inspired assists from both debutante Marty Conlon and captain Jay Larranaga. Germany coach Henrik Dettman had certainly done his homework and Larranaga found it virtually impossible to shake off
the attention of Henkrik Rodhl, who was assisted by Roller in his task of closing out Ireland’s top scorer in the qualifying round.Ireland maintained their lead for most of the quarter, but Germany pulled ahead with 2 minutes remaining through their 7’2” danger man Patrick Fermerling to lead 16-15. And that’s when it all began to unravel for the visitors. Dooley rested both Mitchell and Larranaga, but then suddenly Germany went on a scoring spree, hitting two quick three pointers in succession from Beechum and Okulaja to make it 23-15. Ireland seemed unable to react and seconds later their defence was caught off guard by a quick cross court pass from Roller which found Willoughby who slam dunked home their 11th point of the quarter as Germany ran up a 27-15 first quarter lead.
Things went from bad to worse. A combination of an excellent German defence and poor shooting options by the Irish side saw them score just 9pts to Germany’s 17pts. Femerling's skill and agility inside was difficult for the smaller Irish side to contain, while superb outside shooting from Okulaja and Beechum hurt them badly and the home side had run up an apparently comfortable 20pt lead by half time, 44-24.
Dooley’s half time talk produced a revitalised Irish team at the re-start. Conlon caused the German defence problems in the opening minutes and he hit two quick baskets to get Ireland of the mark again. But it was with four minutes gone in the half that Ireland’s began to turn the game around. Trailing 30-51, they scored four three pointers in less than 1 minute to cut it back to an 11pt game.
Suddenly it was Germany who was on the rack, and you could sense the panic in the four thousand strong crowd. An unfair call cost Donlon a basket, but Jay Larranaga finally shook free of his marker to score 8pts in the last four minutes to bring keep Ireland in touch, Germany still in command of a 65-53 lead going into the final period of the game.
Ireland were full of confidence at this stage and Mitchell began the final quarter with five quick points to cut it to 58-67 to Germany with just 1 minute gone. Conlon and Mitchell were linking up well in offence and it was Conlon who provided Mitchell with yet another inspired assist which saw the Avitos Giessen player slam-dunk home his 7th point in less than two minutes to cut it to a 9pt game – the closest Ireland had been since the first quarter.
Okulaja and Fermerling were ensuring that Germany stayed in front, with some excellent work inside the key but still Ireland kept on eroding their lead. Tim Kennedy slotted home his first three-pointer of the game to make it a 7pt game, and it was his steal which set up Mitchell for another impressive slam dunk seconds later – suddenly Ireland were within five of the home side.
The visitors looked like they might just sneak a win, but a turnover due to yet another slip gave Germany the advantage and they pulled back into a 7pt lead. Ireland brought it back to five pts again through Conlon, but they couldn’t get any closer to denting Germany’s lead. When Mitchell was fouled out with 2 minutes to go, it was clearly going to be Germany’s victory and the home side pulled away from the line
“I am proud of our guys gutsy second half performance,” said Dooley after the game.”To scratch it back like that against a team of Germany’s calibre is incredible.”
Dooley had to change his team tactics at the last minute with the unfortunate withdrawal of co- captain Dan Callahan on Monday due to contractual problems with his new club in the Serie A in Italy. He was quick to pay credit to his sides fighting spirit – and to shake off any complaints about the playing conditions.
“There is no doubt that the floor was very slippy out there, but it was slippy for all ten players, not just mine” he said “It was our poor second quarter that cost us that game”
Mitchell and ex-Boston Celtic Conlon were joint top scorers on 25pts.
There was another cause for celebration with Gareth Maguire earning his 70th cap, an achievement which makes him Ireland’s most capped player, surpassing St.Vincent’s coach Mark Keenan’s record of 69caps.
With most pundits expecting Ireland to lose by a large margin, to come within five points of winning it, leaves the Irish team determined to pull out all the stops against Croatia on Saturday night at the NBA.
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