Garvey’s Tralee Warriors defeated Griffith College Éanna 89-86 in the Men’s Super League.
Alan Cantwell reports
John Dowling, Tralee Warriors coach
Garvey's Tralee Warriors somehow conspired to surrender an 18 point lead before Mark Stephens knocked down a stunning buzzer beating three at the death to seal the win by 89-86. Despite their delight the Warriors will be left wondering how it possibly came down to having to win with a basket in the final play of the game.
The Warriors started well with three point efforts from Greg Adon, Eoin Quigley and Rap Buivydas helping the home side to build an early 13-5 lead that forced an Éanna timeout. The hosts continued to build on their advantage with Daniel Jokubaitis opening his account before another major from Brandon Mahan had them 22-9 up. Éanna finally found their rhythm and scores from inside and out from both James Gormley and Sean Jenkins and Josh Wilson halved the Warriors lead to 26-20 at quarter time.
Rap Buivydas continued his good run of form to land a double early in the second and when Adon, Jokubaitis and Mahan also hit the target the Warriors advantage grew to 38-27. Éanna’s resistance came from scores from a Tyland Crawford three and inside efforts from Cathal O’Sullivan and Mark Reynolds. However Warriors were finding scores as they wished and when Adon, Stephens and Mahan combined the gap was out to double digits. A Stefan Desnica’s hat-trick moved Éanna closer but a stunning cameo from Josh Osayanrhion saw him land a quickfire 8 points to put the Warriors 56-38 ahead at the half time break.
Éanna went on a quick run early in the third with Desnica, Jenkins and Wilson all adding to rein the lead in to 11 but Mark Stephens fired down from distance and when Jokubaitis added the Warriors had 15 points to spare and it got better when Ryan Leonard, Adon and Mahan all swished from beyond the arc to blow the gap out to 20. Despite Neil Lynch finishing in typical style from outside and a basket from Crawford with the last play of the quarter the Warriors looked odds on favourites 78-60 up into the final quarter.
It proved to be anything but as the Warriors suddenly lost their discipline, their shape and almost the game allowing the defending League champions to hack the sizable lead down to the bare minimum. Desnica and Crawford converted from the line and a double from Crawford from inside and one each from Wilson and O’Sullivan suddenly had the lead down to 82-72 midway through the fourth. Mahan and Adon added to restore some order but the hosts' discipline suddenly deserted them and Jenkins and Kristjan Andabaka were full value from the line before Crawford brought the game back to a one score game.
Josh Wilson then took his chance to land a tough finish and draw a foul to tie the sides at 86-86 but Mark Stephens had one last chance that rimmed out. Inexplicably Kristjan Andabaka caught the rebound and fired the ball down the court, hitting the roof. It gave the Warriors 0.8 seconds on the clock to conjure a winning play and when Jokubaitis handed to Stephens he launched a three point effort from the corner as the buzzer sounded. To the delight of the home crowd he nailed an outrageous score to seal the win with the show-stopping finale.
Scorers: Garvey's Tralee Warriors: Greg Adon 21, Brandon 18, Mark Stephens 14
Griffith College Éanna: Stefan Desnica 19, Tyland Crawford 17, Sean Jenkins 15
Next up for the Warriors is an away trip to Templeogue at the National Basketball Arena on Saturday 28th - the night before they take part in the Castleisland Blitz.
In the Men’s National League Killarney Cougars lost 83-98 to Titans.
Top scorers
Killarney Cougars
Joshua Strongman 25
Kani Glover 23
Iyan Hristov 9
Titans
Micheal Paul Hayes 32
Joseph Coughlan 18
Declan Gbinigie 14
Victor Tashev 11
Scotts Lakers beat SETU Waterford Vikings 78-69.
Enda Walshe reports
Tralee Warriors won against Mayo Meteors in the Men’s Development League, 85-62.
Garvey's Tralee Warriors made it a clean sweep of wins over the weekend with the BIDL Men side overcoming Mayo Meteors by 85-62 in a curtain raiser to the Mens Super League game last night.
A great spread of scoring from the Warriors and a strong third quarter proved decisive as they made it two wins from two in defence of their BIDL title. James Fernane with 17, Daire Kennelly with 16, Olaf Michalczuk with 15, Josh Osayanrhion with 14 and Steven Bowler with 12 all chipped to seal an 85-62 win in the end.
The Warriors trailed 24-17 at quarter time and 38-36 at half time before dominating the third to go 60-45 up before seeing out the win by 85-62.
Next up for the BIDL Men is another home tie against Atlantic Eagles at the Tralee Sports Complex on Saturday 4th January at 5.00pm.
