Garvey's Tralee Warriors lost 82-85 at Ballincollig in the Men’s Super League. Alan Cantwell reports
Warriors let slip a six point lead with just three minutes on the clock to go down to Ballincollig in Round 7. Ballincollig finished strongly but the Warriors would be concerned by the way they managed the final moments of the game allowing the Cork side to outscore them 10-3 as the clock ticked down.
In the style of recent encounters between these sides the teams were level no fewer than eleven times with the lead changing hands on sixteen occasions. It was the Warriors first in gear with Iggy Hunte, Jordan Perkins and Cian Sullivan opening their account to see the Tralee side lead 8-6 with Latavious Mitchell and Adrian Sullivan in range for the hosts. Mitchell added an and one before three point shooter Keelan Cairns got a clean look to swish from distance to edge Ballincollig 12-8 up. Olaf Michalczuk found his touch and the Ballincollig basket with two monster long range efforts and with Daniel Jokubaitis, Dan Bowler and Sullivan all landing tough shots the Warriors led 21-17. The Cork side likes their long range shooting too and Latrell Jossell and two from Ciaran O’Sullivan from beyond the arc gave Ballincollig a 25-23 lead at quarter time.
Josh Steel sprung to life early in the second and a double from him moved Ballincollig 5 points clear but Iggy Hunte was busy inside and a double from him ahead of Jordan Perkins landing a cracking effort from distance to draw the sides level but Cairns and Jossell followed suit to land majors to keep the Ballincollig lead intact. Bowler and Jokubaitis combined to pare the lead back to a single point and despite Cairns again finding nothing but net from outside, the Cork side could only look on as Perkins conjured up a sensational 12 point volley to give the Warriors a 49-46 lead at half time.
The contest turned into a tactical battle in the third with Hunte and Perkins firstly firing the Warriors into a 57-49 lead, their biggest lead of the game, but back came Ballincollig through Mitchell and Jossell to cut the advantage back to just three. Perkins picked up his fourth foul just after the midpoint of the quarter and ominously for Warriors they were confined to a single Iggy Hunte basket for the remainder. At the other end, Adrian O’Sullivan floated in from close range and scores from inside and out from Jossell gave the hosts a 62-60 lead to take into the final quarter.
John Dowling kept Perkins on the bench at the start of the fourth to keep him in the game with just one foul to give and the tactic paid dividends as Hunte added to a major from Quigley and a double from the industrious Dan Bowler saw the Warriors take back the lead at 69-66 up with 6’00’’ on the clock. Perkins reappeared to shoot the Tralee side further ahead with a basket and a technical foul shot before unleashing a pull up three to put 8 between the teams. Ballincollig's response was immediate and effective as Mitchell took advantage of two Warrior turnovers to land from either side of the arc but Perkins repeated the dose from distance to push the gap back out to 6. With the game there to be won it was the home side that executed better at both ends of the court in the final two minutes to outscore the visitors by 12-3 and shut down the Warriors offence with Jossell arcing in two dagger threes edge the hosts one point ahead. One last Warriors attack with 8.9’’ on the clock was turned over midcourt and it was left to Steel to swat in the game winning score and seal the win.
Scorers:
Ballincollig: Latrell Jossell 24, Lavatious Mitchell 24, Adrian O’Sullivan 11
Garvey's Tralee Warriors: Jordan Perkins 28, Iggy Hunte 21, Dan Bowler 9
(Pictures courtesy of Liam Ryan)
The Men’s Super League tonight has Team Flexachem are away to Sligo All Stars from 7.30. Ger Nolan reports
In the National League Killarney Cougars are home to Maree at 7.30. Clodagh Donnelly reports
