Belfast Star came back from 18 points down in the third quarter to defeat promoted side Limerick Celtics 81-73 to extend their unbeaten start to three wins in a row in the Domino’s Men’s Super League.

A Limerick Celtics side led by the duo of Abdul Wurie and A.J. Williams started the game well and really hammered home their impressive first half performance by going in at half-time up by 14 points, but as the third wore on and as we entered the final ten minutes of the game, Star quietly chewed away at the Celtics lead and would eventually be rewarded with a lead with eight minutes left. Once Star went in front, there was no going back.

Max Richardson, Rapolas Buivydas and Roger Wilson combined for 48 of Belfast's total of 81 points. Richardson had a very efficient 15, shooting 5-8 from the field. Buivydas and Wilson dominated the boards with a total combined 17 rebounds for Adrian Fulton's team. What will be of note for both sides however is how poor shooting was from beyond the arc.

Celtics shot 6-32 from three and Star similarly shot 6-31 from behind the three point line. Belfast will head into next weekend with all the confidence, as the only undefeated side left in the Men’s Super League and they travel to Killorglin to face Flexachem KCYMS. Meanwhile, the Limerick Celtics will be back at home as they welcome the 2-1 Garvey’s Tralee Warriors.

Latavious Mitchell put on a show-stopping performance for Ballincollig, as they managed to pick up their first victory of the season with a 108-91 win over Energywise Ireland Neptune. Mitchell dropped 38 points in just 28 minutes of play along with nine boards and a massive 41 efficiency.

The supporting cast of Latrell Jossell, who had 23 points, six rebounds and eight assists and Josh Steel, who had 18 and six assists, made the difference as Ballincollig cruised to a win in the Cork derby, to get to a record of 1-2 this season.

As for Neptune, they are still in search of that elusive first win of the season. But what will be cause for concern is the average of almost 112 points being given up so far this season by the Cork outfit. In a game where they only led by one point, yet went behind by as much as 26 at one stage, the saving grace can be the duo of Joe-Junior Muvezolo and Adon Gregorio, who dropped a huge 40 between them to try drive Neptune, but ultimately it wasn’t to be. Neptune will have a tough task next week with a visit from Griffith College Éanna, who are fresh off two wins on the bounce.

Griffith College Éanna made it two in a row after a week one defeat, by cruising to a 104-77 win against St. Vincent’s on Saturday. 

Six players had over ten points for Éanna, but the standout performers were Kristijan Andabaka and Jalen McAfee Marion. Andabaka had 16 points, seven rebounds and eight assists, along with a game-high 24 efficiency. As for Marion, he dropped 23 points in 19 minutes and had a 23 efficiency in a game where Éanna would feel they were mostly comfortable in a 27-point win.

With St. Vincent's, they will feel it is back to the drawing board, after what seemed like a turning point last week in a gritty win against Ballincollig wasn’t followed up on as they had hoped it would have been. Jaylyn Richardson hit 26 points for the Dublin club, to only further strengthen his 27 points per game average. There is no rest for the weary, as they travel to face fellow 1-2 opponents EJ Sligo All-Stars.

Flexachem KCYMS were left stunned as they lost their undefeated status against a Killester side who had a mixed start to the season. Killorglin suffered a 28-point loss as Robert Braswell IV and Josh Wilson combined for 43 to defeat Killorglin by a score of 90-62. Braswell had quite a dominant performance with 23 points, seven rebounds and a strong efficiency of 24. Wilson had a game-high efficiency of 25, to go with his 20-point showing for the Dublin side.

It really was a tale of two halves here as the lead changed hands on ten separate occasions, with the biggest lead either way being four points. However in the second half Killester really piled on the pressure coming out of the half five-points ahead and extended that lead to fifteen points in the third quarter.  As we entered the fourth, the Dublin side managed to reach as much as a 29-point lead in the final minutes, to really assert the dominance of their second half performance.

Killester will look to build on this showing as they make the journey to Cork to take on the Domino's Men's Super League defending champions UCC Demons, in a repeat of last season's Super League Playoff final and National Cup final.

UCC Demons' slow start to the season continued, succumbing to a 86-79 defeat at Garvey’s Tralee Warriors in MTU Tralee. Tala Fam Thiam continued a strong start to his Demons campaign with 16 points, 11 rebounds and five assists. However it wasn’t enough to topple the Tralee trio of Irshaad Hunte, Jordan Perkins and Daniel Jokubaitis. Hunte managed to drop 23 points and add 10 boards to his stat line.

Perkins had his own 17 points to accompany six rebounds and 10 assists and Jokubaitis has 19 with six boards and four assists in a game that saw the Warriors extend to 2-1 and send the champions to a tough 1-2 start.

UCD Marian defeated EJ Sligo All-Stars 87-81 to go 2-1 and hand Sligo their second defeat of the season in three games. Joshua Reynolds was the leader for Marian as he scored 23 points on 8-12 shooting and an efficiency of 30 for Reynolds. James Connaire and Tanner Graham also contributed 35 points together for UCD as they dug deep to grind out their second win of the season.

Killester went joint-top of the Domino's Women's Super League alongside Utility Trust St. Paul's after defeating Gurranbraher Credit Union Brunell 74-61. For Killester, it was the star duo of Audrey Roden and Samantha Haiby who showed out with a combined 46 points for Killester and also drawing in 17 boards between them.

With Brunell, they had somewhat of a shooting slump. They shot 19% from three in a game where the two sides went in at the half level, but Brunell could not cope with the pressure from Killester in the second half and would eventually build their 13-point lead. Killester will be looking to go four for four next week as they host Catalyst Fr. Mathew’s on Saturday.

Utility St. Paul's Killarney picked up where they left off against Portlaoise last weekend and gained a comfortable 80-67 victory over Catalyst Fr. Mathew's today in Kerry. The win for St. Paul's keeps them at a 100% record in the Domino’s Women’s Super League table. Fr. Mathew's took the lead as the game tipped off, Killarney regained the lead two minutes in, and from there, they never surrendered it. Four Killarney players scored at least 15 points with both Tara Cousins and Lorraine Scanlon hitting 16, Lovisa Hevinder with 19 and then Maisie Burnham had her third-straight twenty-point performance keeping a 21.3 points per game average as the Kerry ladies go 3-0.

Unfortunately for Catalyst Fr. Mathews, it is a third straight defeat as they are now 0-3 in the Domino's Women's Super League standings. In what was a fairly sobering day for the Cork side, it was Laila Blair who provided a shining spark with 34 points, 7 rebounds and 3 steals on 37 efficiency. Blair had a strong shooting showing on her 34 with 5-9 from three and 56% from the field. Fr. Mathew's will face a challenging task next weekend as they face the defending champions in Killester looking to get that first notch in the win column.

After a torrid start to their Domino’s Women’s Super League campaign, the newly-promoted McEvoy’s Cavan Eagles finally got their season up and running with a 70-57 triumph over Midlands Park Portlaoise Panthers.

Cavan's biggest lead turned out to be a winning lead driven by an all-around team performance with standout performances namely from Katie O’Sullivan and Mazatkan Harris. O’Sullivan scored 21 on 6-10 shooting from the field with 26 efficiency. As for Harris, she kept up her strong individual start to the season with 11 of her own points accompanied by 12 rebounds keeping up her double-double average start to her Domino's Women's Super League career.

As for Portlaoise, it is now two losses on the bounce following a tough loss to St. Paul’s Killarney. It was tough day at the office offensively for the Panthers shooting 7-20 from three and just 25% from inside the three-point line. Jessica Fressle was a positive on both sides of the ball for Portlaoise with 13 points and 10 rebounds on 15 efficiency. In a game where the Laois side led by as many as 15 points at one stage, they will come away thinking it is back to the drawing board as they prepare to welcome UCC Glanmire next weekend and look to break even in the table after four games have concluded.

In the last Saturday offering this weekend, we saw a battle between the 2-0 Trinity Meteors and the 1-1 SETU Waterford Wildcats go right down to the wire with Alyssa Frescas hitting a shot at the buzzer to hand Trinity their first defeat of the season and send Waterford to 2-1 in the Domino's Women's Super League table. Frescas dropped 32 points and 10 rebounds whilst being supported by Sarah Hickey who had 19 and 11 rebounds in a game that finished 68-66 to the Wildcats.

As for the Meteors, they had a trio to carry the weight of their scoring with Hazel Finn hitting 14, including the game-tying shot before the winner, Ava Learn with 14 points and 11 boards and Kylie Horstmeyer who had 15 points, 10 boards on an efficiency of 21 as Trinity moved to 2-1 and begin to prepare for the Dublin derby next week as they take on FloMAX Liffey Celtics.

Liffey Celtics' tough start to the season continued as they picked up their third consecutive loss of the season in a 76-64 loss to UCC Glanmire on Sunday. Irish international Sorcha Tiernan scored 24 points for Liffey and added seven rebounds as she tried to pull the Celtics through but ultimately, Glanmire had too much firepower.

For Glanmire, it was the Jewel Watkins show as she dropped 33 points and 5 rebounds for UCC. The supporting cast of 14 points from Viane Cumber and 11 from Claire O’Sullivan managed to drive the Cork side over the line in a game where UCC only grew into the game with 42 of the 76 points they scored coming in the second half. Glanmire will look to make it 2-2 for the season when they travel to Portlaoise to face the Panthers.

Results

Domino’s Men’s Super League

Saturday 18th October

Belfast Star 81-73 Limerick Celtics

Energywise Ireland Neptune 91-108 Ballincollig

Garvey’s Tralee Warriors 86-79 UCC Demons

UCD Marian 87-81 EJ Sligo All-Stars

Griffith College Éanna 104-77 St. Vincent’s

Flexachem KCYMS 62-90 Killester

Domino's Women's Super League

Saturday 18th October

McEvoy's Cavan Eagles 70-57 Midlands Park Portlaoise Panthers

Utility Trust St. Paul's 80-67 Catalyst Fr. Mathew's

Trinity Meteors 66-68 SETU Waterford Wildcats

Sunday 19th October

UCC Glanmire 76-64 FloMAX Liffey Celtics

Gurranabraher Credit Union Brunell 61-74 Killester

Domino's Men's Division One

Saturday 18th October

Dublin Lions 108-60 Killarney Cougars

Titans BC 92-94 Ulster University

Maree 50-62 Drogheda Wolves

Maigh Cuilinn 73-80 Moy Tolka Rovers

Templeogue 69-71 Limerick Sport Eagles

SPK Utility Trust Lakers 81-75 Malahide

Carrick Cruisers 77-97 ND Audit Portlaoise Panthers

Domino's Women's Division One

Saturday 18th October

Cleveland Rockets 69-76 Limerick Sport Huskies

Templeogue 76-73 Abbey Seals Dublin Lions

Dublin Raiders 69-62 Moy Tolka Rovers

Clunetech Kilkenny Stars 71-68 Swords Thunder

University of Galway Mystics 44-62 Limerick Celtics