UCD Marian 51-48 St Vincent's
Saturday, 26 January 2008 21:22UCD Marian claimed the Senior Men's National Cup today with a tight 51-48 success over Dublin rivals St Vincent's at the National Basketball Arena.
UCD/Marian held a narrow one-point advantage at the end of the first quarter despite the best efforts of Vincent's experienced guard Karl Donnelly, who hit two three-pointers in a row.
UCD/Marian maintained their advantage in a scrappy second quarter with the impressive Kevin Meaney and Luke McCrone contributing to a 31-26 lead for the South Dublin outfit. Both defences were strong with a lot of turnovers in a poor second quarter.
However, the tempo of the game increased in the third quarter as Vincent's upped their offence, narrowing the deficit to just a solitary point midway through the quarter.
Shane Callaghan was at the forefront of everything good about Vincent's' revival with his all round play and his presence under the basket.
UCD/Marian refused to panic with Meaney and David Harrison once again securing important baskets.
In an exciting finale to the quarter, Donnelly hit another three to reduce Marian's lead to just one point at the end of the quarter.
UCD started the final quarter in positive fashion with three points secured in the first minute without conceding.
With 4.22 left on the clock Vincent's player Martins Provizors picked up his fifth foul and gave UCD's Greg Foley two free throws but he couldn't convert and the score stayed 49-46 in favour of UCD.
With 2.15 left in the game Karl Donnelly made two free throws to bring the game to a point but UCD's Kevin Meany scored straight from the inbound and got UCD back their 3 point lead.
UCD kept this lead for the remainder of the game and it finished 51-48 in favour of UCD/Marian.
