Basketball Ireland Mens Super League Round 15
Templeogue 68
Garvey’s Tralee Warriors 95
Garvey’s Tralee Warriors made it three wins from three with a 95-68 win over Templeogue at the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght on Saturday evening. The Tralee side trailed by a single point at the end of the first but never looked back after a big second quarter saw them spread the game to lead by 20 and ultimately see out a comfortable 27 point win in the end.
The Warriors started with real intent and captain Eoin Quigley, Greg Adon and Rap Buivydas combined to build an early 12-5 lead. Templeogue’s response came from the sharp-shooting American Immanuel Allen with a score from either side of the arc. Two momentary slips in defence by the Warriors offered Allen the chance to double his tally, and he duly obliged. Brandon Mahan and Josh Osayanarhion then opened their accounts to edge the Warriors further ahead but two big threes from Allen and another from his fellow American Ty Fagan saw the hosts lead 21-20 at quarter time.
Rap Buivydas has been Warriors outstanding player to date and showed all his class inside to land a double early in the second. Ryan Leonard and Osayanrhion followed his lead and with 8’30’’ on the clock Mark Keenan called a quick Templeogue time out. Out of it Callum McGrail added a badly needed score for the hosts but the Warriors threw down the gauntlet with Buivydas again tormenting the Dublin side’s defence and when Daniel Jokubaitis fired in and Mahan drained a monster three, Keenan again called a time out with 5’35’’ remaining to try to quell the onslaught. It got better for the Warriors on the resumption when Jokubaitis lit up to drill a hat-trick of majors to put 20 between the teams. Cian Sullivan and Mahan pushed the lead out to 25 but Adam Tighe knocked down a three for Templeogue to cut the Warriors advantage back to 53-33 at half time.
The third quarter opened with a frenetic run of scores with Ty Fagan and Mark Stephens landing majors and Adam Tighe and Eoin Quigley adding from inside. However the Warriors took off on a devastating run that saw them add an unanswered 16 points from inside and outside from Buivydas, Mahan, Quigley and Stephens to build a game winning 76-40 lead. Adon, Stephens and James Fernane were in range late on but McGrail and Fagan combined for a quickfire 8 points to see Warriors 83-48 up at three quarter time.
The Warriors ran the bench early in the fourth but Templeogue went on a quick run of their own and when Fagan and Allen heated up they cut the lead back to 85-60. A Ryan Leonard double restored order for the Warriors and Osayanrhion and Buivydas closed the game out with a score each to see the Warriors complete a 95-68 win with the League points secured a long time before the final buzzer sounded.
Scorers:
Templeogue: Immanuel Allen 29, Tavias Fagan 20, Callum McGrail 6
Garvey’s Tralee Warriors: Rap Buivydas 20, Brandon Mahan 16, Greg Adon 12
Next up for the Warriors is a mouth-watering top of the table showdown with Killester at the Tralee Sports Complex next Saturday night with tip off at 7.30pm.