Basketball Ireland Mens Development League Round 6
Garvey’s Tralee Warriors 102
Atlantic Eagles 76
Garvey’s Tralee Warriors maintained their perfect record in the Development League and made it six wins from six with a 102-76 win over Atlantic Eagles at Moyderwell this afternoon. The Warriors started without Aaron Fleming, Olaf Michalczuk, Daire Kennelly and Josh Osayanrhion and still were far too strong from the Eagles, a team that were only formed last year as an offshoot of EJ Sligo All Stars.
The Warriors started strongly and built a double score first quarter lead after James Fernane sparked up with baskets from either side of the arc. Dan Bowler and Padraig Fleming were also on song early and countered the Eagles who found their points through Karolis Gunka, Dominykas Kutra and a major score from Zachary Smith. The Warriors struck again through Fernane for a late three pointer before Padraig Fleming saw the Warriors lead 27-13 at quarter time.
The Warriors began to steadily add to their advantage through Adam O’Keeffe and a double from Dan Bowler forcing an Eagles timeout with the scoreline reading 34-20. Bowler continued to torment the Eagles rearguard and despite Alex Savage and Wesley Conlon being on the mark, Zigi Kaletka and Fergal O’Sullivan both nailed huge three pointers to finish the half in style to lead 52-27.
Padraig Fleming and Ryan Sheehy combined to put 30 between the sides early in the third but a three point effort from Kutra ignited the Eagles offence with Gunka, Kutra again and Savage just about keeping the Eagles in the contest. However baskets from Fleming and Sheehy and Steven Bowler from distance had Warriors 75-47 up at three quarter time.
With most of the heavy lifting done the Warriors eased up on the intensity levels allowing Eagles shoot particularly from distance. Kutra and Gunka impressively landed three threes each for the Sligo side that Warriors replied to with another major from Steven Bowler and inside scores from Jamie Burke, Dominic Craig and Dan Bowler to keep 25 between the teams as the clock ticked down. The Warriors added some gloss to the scoreline late on through Dan Bowler, Padraig Fleming and Sheehy and the Eagles did likewise with Kutra, Gunka and Zachary Smith continuing to shoot on sight to add some more respect to their final tally of 76, but it was still 26 off the Warriors total of 102.
Scorers:
Garvey’s Tralee Warriors: Dan Bowler 25, Padraig Fleming 23, James Fernane 15
Atlantic Eagles: Karolis Gunka 35, Dominykas Kutra 14, Alex Savage 11
Next up for the Garvey’s Tralee Warriors BIDL Men is a trip to Mayo next Saturday to take on Merry Monk Ballina. The Warriors can secure top spot in Conference 1 with a win ahead of their final game of the schedule away to Shannon Jets on Saturday 1st March.