Basketball Ireland Mens Super League Round 21
Energywise Ireland Neptune 94
Garvey’s Tralee Warriors 92
Garvey’s Tralee Warriors missed an opportunity to cement third place on the Dominos Super League table after a 94-92 defeat at the hands of Energywise Ireland Neptune at Neptune Stadium on Friday night. The Warriors now play their third game in five days when they take on Ballincollig in the Míchéal Ó Muircheartaigh Sports Hall at the Kerry Sports Academy in Tralee on Sunday afternoon.
Neptune were first on the board with former Belfast star Tamyrik Fields and fellow American Chase Hunter combining for 11 points for the hosts. The Warriors replied through Rap Buivydas with two, Mar Stephens and a three from Greg Adon to leave 2 between the teams midway through the first. Neptune were finding their scores easier to come by and pushed their lead out to 24-15 with scores from Jaksa Sola, Fields and a three from Daragh O’Sullivan but late efforts from Buivydas and Ryan Leonard cut the gap to 26-19 at quarter time.
Fields and Hunter continued to torment the Warriors defensive unit and a 10 point haul early in the second saw the home side go 37-21 up. Three fouls on Hunter saw him sit down for the remainder of the quarter and the a major score each from Daniel Jokubaiti, Brandon Mahan and Buivydas saw the Warriors halve the lead to 8. Jaksa Sola lit up to hit a hat trick of scores late on but Cian Sullivan and Mahan combined to keep the half time lead to 50-41 to Neptune.
The third quarter, the moving quarter, saw Warriors fire their way right back into the contest with Greg Adon nailing an effort from beyond the arc and Stephens weaving his way to three identical scores to leave a single score between the teams. However, an unsportsmanlike call on Fields seemed to spark the Neptune sharpshooter up and he, Nil Sabata and Sola struck for an unanswered 10 to undo all the Warriors good work. Sola again was proving a handful as he arced in two majors but Leonard with a double and Stepehns with a treble kept the Warriors very much in the game but down 73-65 at the end of the third.
Chance Hunter returned from his spell on the bench to strike from distance early in the fourth but the Warriors began to find the Neptune basket with greater ease and Sullivan, Adon Buivydas and Stephens all chipped in to cut the gap to 82-76. Fields twice laid up to keep the Warriors in check but Adon, Leonard and a stunning trademark three from Jokubaitis left two between the sides. When Warriors marksman struck again from range a minute later the sides were level. With less than a minute to play Mark Stephens coolly dispatched two free throws and Warriors led for the first time in the game . However, Neptune had one final card to play and unfortunately for Warriors it fell into the hands of Tamyrik Fields who loaded up to fire in the winning score from in front of the Warriors bench to seal the 94-92 win.
Scorers:
Energywise Ireland Neptune: Tamyrik Fields 31, Chance Hunter 21, Jaksa Sola 20
Garvey’s Tralee Warriors: Mark Stephens 23, Ryan Leonard 16, Greg Adon and Brandon Mahan 14
Next up for the Warriors is their second last home game of the regular season when they welcome Ballincollig to the Míchéal Ó Muircheartaigh Sports Hall at the Kerry Sports Academy on Sunday afternoon with tip off at 3.30pm.