Monday's Men's Super League results have ensured the three top teams are firmly in the race for league honours ahead of next weekend's concluding fixtures to tee up a dramatic finale to the season.
Garvey’s Tralee Warriors completed a tough weekend of fixtures Monday afternoon, running out winners over Moycullen in Galway to follow on from their win against C and S Neptune at home on Friday evening. This leaves their fate in this year’s league firmly in their own hands now, as they remain the only team who can win the league outright as they currently hold the best loss record, with just four losses this season in comparison to Templeogue’s and UCD Marian’s five losses apiece.
Tralee face a huge concluding weekend next weekend though, when they face off against fellow title contenders, and reigning champions UCD Marian not once, but twice – home and away. The injury-laden Kerry side were dealt a further blow to their roster this afternoon though when instrumental American, Kendal Williams was taken off the court injured.
Speaking after the win, head coach Pat Price reflected: "My first thoughts are with Kendal Williams, it's way more important than any game, it was a terrible injury. Our guys have really adopted the idea of next man up though and guys took on roles today that maybe they're not accustomed to. Not only that, but Keith Jumper played injured, Dusan Bogdanovic played injured, Paul Dick played very injured today – they just want to be successful and they've all showed they'll put their body on the line to do that."
Fellow title chasers, Templeogue, were also in action on Monday and faced off a determined C and S Neptune side in Cork who were battling for survival in the Men’s Super League. A tough and scrappy affair saw Templeogue begin to assert their dominance at half time, opening up a 39-53 point cushion, and they drove on from there to win out 77-95 in the end.
“It was a scrappy game,” admitted player and assistant coach, Puff Summers. “We knew we were going to get Neptune’s best shot as this was their last game and they were trying to fight relegation, so we’re just happy to get the win. We take nothing for granted now, we face Moycullen next week in our last game and we have to win that. Moycullen have a fighting spirit so we expect another tough game there.”
Elsewhere around Monday's fixtures, a big fourth-quarter push from Maree saw them run out 79-83 point winners over Keane's SuperValu Killorglin in Kerry, with Seán Sellers, Niels Bunschoten and Paul Freeman leading the way for the Galway men on the scoreboard. DCU Saints meanwhile overcame near neighbours Pyrobel Killester in a cracking derby game in Dublin, winning out 92-74 in the end behind a 22-point game from Eoin Darling.
Basketball Ireland – March 15th-19th
Basketball Ireland Men’s Super League:
UCC Demons 102-93 Keane's Supervalu Killorglin
Garvey’s Tralee Warriors 87-82 CandS Neptune
Maree 98-77 DCU Saints
Pyrobel Killester 82-70 Belfast Star
Moycullen 56-87 UCD Marian
Belfast Star 96-81 UCC Demons
Keanes Supervalu Killorglin 79-83 Maree
DCU Saints 92-74 Pyrobel Killester
Moycullen 82-93 Garvey’s Tralee Warriors
CandS Neptune 77-95 Templeogue
Basketball Ireland Women’s Super League:
IT Carlow Basketball 68-82 Maxol WIT Wildcats
NUIG Mystics 46-63 Courtyard Liffey Celtics
Pyrobel Killester 93-87 Ambassador UCC Glanmire
DCU Mercy 77-70 Fr Mathews
Singleton SuperValu Brunell 67-55 Marble City Hawks
Basketball Ireland Men’s Division One:
IT Carlow Basketball 77-70 KUBS
Tradehouse Central Ballincollig 100-61 Bad Bobs Tolka Rovers
Limerick Celtics 52-80 Abbey Seals Dublin Lions
UL Sports Eagles 74-83 DBS Eanna
Waterford Vikings 83-70 GameFootage.net Titans
Fr Mathews 90-73 LYIT Donegal
Scotts Lakers St Paul’s Killarney 79-81 EJ Sligo All-Stars
Portlaoise Panthers 87-75 Ulster University Elks
