Just a week after their National Cup final defeat, Garvey’s Tralee Warriors lost out again to Cork opposition in the form of a defiant UCC Demons who continued their mid-season revival and quest to stave off relegation fears. The win moves Demons off the bottom of the table up to one one spot away from the top eight playoff places. The Warriors went into the contest without the services of captain Eoin Quigley and his all round play was missed, particularly defensively.

The contest began with a personal duel between Iggy Hunte and Demons American Jordan Washington with Hunte hitting the Warriors first four scores and Washington firing down five in  a row for Demons to see the hosts take an early lead. Cian Sullivan and Jordan Perkins then both slated their first scores of the game but sharpshooting James Hannigan hit a typical major score for Demons and Tala Fam Thiam put four points to his name late on to give the home side a 20-12 lead at quarter time.

Washington continued to torment the Warriors and their fans with his sixth of the game early in the second quarter before Daryll Cuff bombed down two identical threes to put 13 between the sides and force a Warriors timeout. Out of the break the Warriors response was immediate with major strikes from Daniel Jokubaitis and Olaf Michalczuk negating Cuff’s double and Hunte, Perkins and Sullivan added to pare the gap back to 4. Live Kivuvu was sprung from the Demons bench to hit a quickfire hat trick and with Tala Fam in range and Cuff spearing another three the Demons blew the lead out to 45-27. Hunte added again from play and two from the line to keep Warriors in touch, but Tala Fam with two close range efforts helped Demons to a potentially game winning 51-31 lead at the long break.

Demons threatened to shut the gate on the game early in their third with Washington and Tala Fam again on the mark. However Warriors would always have their period of dominance in the game and it began with Perkins landing from inside and outside either side of a Hunte double and when Hunte continued to find a way to the Demons board he added another four in a row for good measure had the home side reeling. Demons went a full six minutes without a score apart from a fast break layup from captain Dave Lehane and when Cian Sullivan added and Daniel Jokubaitis nailed a three the Warriors had cut the gap to just seven heading into the final quarter.

The Warriors momentum carried into the final quarter with baskets from Sullivan, Perkins and Hunte and another cracking three from Michalczuk cutting the Demons lead to a single score. However that was as good as it got for Warriors as by the midpoint of the quarter they were in foul trouble and despite Jokubaitis and Perkins hitting nothing but net from outside to keep the result in the balance, five trips to the free throw line shared between Washington, Tala Fam and Lehane allowed Demons secure the win by 80-75 in the end.

Scorers:

The Warriors now face three tough games in a row as the playoff race intensifies. Firstly they make the long trip to take on League leaders Belfast on Sunday and the following week have a tricky tie against a resurgent St. Vincent’s in Dublin before a repeat of the National Cup final when they welcome Ballincollig to the Kerry Sports Academy on Friday 13th of February.