Basketball Ireland Mens Super League Round 12
Garvey’s Tralee Warriors 81
UCD Marian 82
Garvey’s Tralee Warriors suffered their second defeat of the weekend when going down 82-81 to UCD Marian on Sunday afternoon. The Warriors were looking to bounce back from the defeat to Demons on Friday night but got off to the worst possible start gifting the Dublin college side a 29-8 first quarter lead. The Tralee side valiantly chased down UCD Marian right down to the final buzzer but ultimately came up agonisingly short by just a single point. It makes it five defeats in a row for the Warriors ahead of a pivotal local derby showdown with arch rivals Flexachem KCYMS on Wednesday night.
Despite opening the scoring from play through Greg Adon and Rap Buivydas, the Warriors were left stunned as UCD Marian, who edged a double overtime win over Flexachem KCYMS the previous night, took over to build a 22-4 lead midway through the quarter. The scores simply rained down with major efforts from Jonathan Jean and Lovre Tvrdic lighting up to add 10 points as the Warriors defence struggled to cope with the onslaught. Daniel Jokubaitis landed a score late on but a three from Tvrdic and inside efforts from Jean and Colm O’Reilly saw the Dublin college outfit 29-8 up at quarter time.
The Warriors set about paring down the sizable gap in the second and the introduction of Ryan Leonard, who was making his first appearance since his serious knee injury in last seasons Cup semi-final, had an instant impact as he knocked down a major score following similar efforts from Eoin Quigley and Brandon Mahan. When Leonard and Jokubaitis also found the target again from outside the Warriors had cut the Marian lead back to a more manageable 7 points but still trailed 37-30. Guilem Catany added a quickfire double and hat trick of major scores from Tanner Graham saw Marian quickly restore a double digit lead and despite a couple of threes from Jokubaitis and Mahan, James Connaire hit the Warriors for six late in the quarter to see Marian 55-43 up at half time.
The Warriors continued to chip away at the Marian lead early in the third with Buivydas, Adon and Mark Stephens combining to cut the gap to single figures but at the other end of the court Marian were still finding scores when they looked for them through Matthew McGrath, Tvrdic, Jean and Connaire to keep their lead intact. When Catany and Graham added late in the quarter for the visitors, their 71-56 lead looked like a game winning one heading into the final quarter.
In an admirable show of defiance and determination, the Warriors embarked on chasing down the Marian lead and the scores came thick and fast as Buivydas, Leonard, Jokubaitis and Quigley were all on target as the scores from Marian began to dry up. However Oscar Blanco, Ronan Byrne and Graham still combined to keep the sizable lead intact. A late run from Warriors sparked by Ryan Leonard’s third three saw Mahan and Buivydas also in range and with Marian in foul trouble the home side took full advantage from the line as the Warriors fans sensed an unlikely comeback win. However a turnover by Warriors in the final play of the game proved to be decisive as it allowed Marian to seal the 82-81 win in the end.
UCD Marian: Lovre Tvrdic 18, Tanner Graham 16, Jonathan Jean 13
Garvey’s Tralee Warriors: Rap Buivydas 22, Ryan Leonard 13, Greg Adon 12
The Warriors now face two crucial home League games this week as they attempt to arrest their recent run of defeats when they welcome local rival Flexachem KCYMS on Wednesday night at 8.00pm before entertaining Éanna on Saturday night at 7.30pm.