Dominos Mens Super League R15 

St. Vincent’s 71

Garvey’s Tralee Warriors 79

Garvey’s Tralee Warriors negotiated their way past St. Vincent’s to bring their win tally to eight and reinvigorate their late season run to the playoffs with a 79-71 in R15 of the Dominos Mens Super League on Saturday night. However, the final score belies the fact that the Warriors trailed by 12 at halftime with the outcome of the contest very much in the balance until a storming final quarter saw them outscore their hosts by 22-9 to bag the vital League points ahead of a double header at home against Ballincollig and Sligo next weekend.

St. Vincent’s opened the scoring through their American pairing of Will Thomas and Marcellus Garrick but Warriors replied with interest when Eoin Quigley and Iggy Hunte both striking from beyond the arc before adding another each from inside to build a 12-9 lead. It got better for Warriors when Steven Bowler and Cian Sullivan hit a double apiece to push the advantage out to 20-13 that forced a Saints timeout. Out of the break the Saints quickly found their groove with Thomas and Garrick combining impressively for a quickfire 12 points, and despite Hunte and Jordan Perkins chipping in with a basket each, the Saints led 27-24 at the end of the first.

Eoin Quigley levelled the game early in the second with a steal and fast break finish but Saints took full value for two shooting fouls through Thomas and Garrick and Eoin McCann added his third of the game to maintain Vincent’s lead. The hosts quickly pushed the gap out to 8 when Thomas nailed a double either side of Dorian Lagoeyte’s two from two from the line to go 39-31 up and force a Warriors timeout. Out of the timeout, Steven Bowler cut the lead to 6 but Thomas immediately negated that with the very next play, and in the final minute of the half Saints Charlie Coombes found the space and time to arc in two identical three point efforts to give the hosts a comfortable 47-35 lead at half time.

The Warriors needed a fast start to the second half and got it when Hunte and Perkins added with Steven Bowler in range from inside and outside but Saints maintained their double digit lead midway through the quarter with baskets from Thomas and McCann and a major score from Lagoeyte. A cracking three from Olaf Michalczuk eased the pressure slightly but the elusive Thomas replied with a double before Jordan Perkins and Cian Sullivan pared the lead back to 58-51. A Garrick three pointer gave the Saints extra comfort as the clock ticked down but Perkins produced two moments of magic to conjure a double and leave just 5 between the sides at 62-57 at the end of the third.

Cian Sullivan was proving a difficult match up for Saints throughout and the Warriors big forward added to his tally with the first play of the final quarter but Thomas was quick to strike back for Saints to bring his personal tally to 27 for the game. An unsportsmanlike call on Saints James Phelan allowed Steven Bowler to convert two from the line that kickstarted a blinding late run from the Warriors that saw them level the game through Iggy Hunte before embarking on a scoring spree that saw Hunte add a double and Daniel Jokubaitis and Perkins join in to quickly put 8 between the teams. Garrick took full value from two trips to the line and Phelan hit Saints second score from play in the quarter to keep the contest alive late on but Perkins was excellent down the stretch and another pair of scores from him completed an impressive comeback to seal the 79-71 win in the end.

Scorers:

St. Vincent’s: Will Thomas 27, Marcellus Garrick 20, Eoin McCann 8

Garvey’s Tralee Warriors: Jordan Perkins 25, Iggy Hunte 19, Steven Bowler 13

The win sees Warriors join St. Vincent’s on 8 wins in 7th position on the table, one win shy of both Eanna and UCD Marian who are on 9 wins but importantly John Dowling’s side have two games in hand as the playoff picture comes into sharp focus. The Warriors hopes for a top four finish and home quarter final are very much alive with 7 games remaining, 5 of those are at home, and 4 of those against teams below them on the table. Next up is a double header of fixtures at the Kerry Sports Academy beginning when they welcome Cup champions Ballincollig to Tralee next Friday night with action getting underway at 8.00pm followed by the visit of EJ Sligo All Stars on Sunday afternoon with a 4.00pm tip off.