Basketball Ireland weekend round-up

The latest fixtures in the Nivea For Men's SuperLeague have conjured up two huge surprises with reigning champions UCC Demons suffering defeat at home to HOOPS, while UCD/Marian beat Killester to register their first win of the season.

Neptune's revival continued away to a Belfast Star side reeling after two successive defeats.

On Saturday, UL Eagles made it five wins out of five following their latest win at home to winless Ulster Elks.

HOOPS' Head Coach Ahmad Smith believes the return of Joey Haastrup and Eoin Chubb from injury played a huge part in their shock 89-80 win away to UCC Demons.

The Dublin side failed to record a win in their previous four games but the side, with US star Carlton Aaron hitting 31 points, held their nerve to record a famous win.

Smith said: 'It is a fantastic win, particularly coming against the reigning champions in Cork.

'Having the likes of Eoin Chubb and Joey Haastrup back from injury was a huge boost ahead of the game and it seemed to give everyone a lift.

'We can now go into the cup game against Moycullen next weekend with confidence after a dismal couple of weeks. I want to build on this and start putting a run together as I know this team is capable of doing a lot better than it has in recent weeks.'

UCD/Marian have also collected their first win of the season after beating a Killester side who held a perfect record heading into Sunday's clash.

A tight contest was level at the break (33-33) but the home side's ability to restrict Kilester to just 14 points in the final quarter proved the difference.

UCD/Marian Head Coach Fran Ryan said: 'It's such a great relief to finally get off the mark: 'We have been improving each week but to get a win against a terrific team like Killester will give us all a lift.

'The belief will increase with this win but I believe we have not been playing badly in recent weeks, just the results haven't been falling our way.'

UL Eagles' dynamic Welsh duo, Matt Hall and Stuart Robbins were once again to the fore as they helped their side to a fifth successive victory courtesy of a 93-75 win at home to Ulster Elks.

Hall said: 'We got off to a slow start but we improved in the second half and started to play well.

'Our defence was the key to the win, Elks played a lot better than the table suggests but we eventually wore them down and got the result we needed.'

He added: 'We are delighted that we have a 100% record but we definitely can't lose the run of ourselves.
'I think we will be up there or thereabouts but our games against the likes of Killester and UCC Demons will tell a lot about where we are as a team.'

The Eagles played a big 3rd quarter to bring a 14 lead into the final quarter. Despite some good perimeter shooting by Elks in the final 10 minutes the Eagles finished up well to win out on an 18 point winning margin.

The return of Matthew McKillop was unable to prevent Belfast Star from defeat as Neptune recorded their second win in a row courtesy of a 10 point win (78-68).

The Cork side held an exact lead at the break (39-29) and never looked back with Juwann James and Ger Noonan hitting 37 and 18 points respectively.

Meanwhile, in the Irishsport TV Women's SuperLeague, Team Montenotte Hotel Cork proved too strong away to Tolka Rovers, while UL also maintained their winning run at the expense of Bausch & Lomb Wildcats.

DCU Mercy inflicted more woe on Sligo All Stars and on Sunday, Killester's unblemished start continued away to Meteors.

Team Montenotte Hotel Cork emerged from their trip to Dublin to face Tolka Rovers with maximum points courtesy of a devastating 81-47 scoreline.

The game marked Jolie Niland's return to the Tolka line-up but she was unable to prevent her side from their third successive loss.

Team Montenotte Hotel Cork's Mark Scannell said: 'The first half was one the most impressive we have played in the last three years.

'It was a phenomenal display overall particularly given we had 36 points off the bench.'

DCU Mercy ensured back to back wins with a comfortable 70-44 success away to Sligo All Stars

Mercy Head Coach Mark Ingle said: 'We had a very good first half.

'We shot the ball well and we had some good performances from the likes of Shauna O'Connor, Suzanne Maguire and Lindsey had 11 assists so I am very pleased.

'Sligo came at us well in the second half but it's a good win away from home.'

UL are showing real signs of a title challenge after recording their third win in a row away to a gutsy Bausch & Lomb Wildcats.

Weldon said: 'Wildcats deserve a lot of credit because they made it very difficult for us even with them missing a few key players.

'We were never really comfortable until the final quarter and we will have to improve if we can take on the likes of Team Montenotte Hotel Cork.'

Killester Head Coach, Mark Grennell, was obviously delighted after steering his side to a third win in a row away to Meteors.

Grennell said: 'I am delighted to get a win which puts us 3-0. It was a hard fought game but I thought we were deserving of the win.

'With the pressure on in the final quarter we kept our heads, made our free throws and got the win.'

Saturday, November 07 2009
Nivea For Men's SuperLeague
UL Eagles 93 (40) (M Hall 28, S Robbins 22, S Kinevane 17) Ulster Elks 75 (32) (P Cummins 20, K Foley 17, R Hanke 12)

IrishSport.TV Women's SuperLeague
Tolka Rovers 47 (19) (J Niland 22, J Wilkins 7, J Coady 6) Team Montenotte Hotel Cork 81 (47) (N Dwyer 19, C Rockall 17, A O'Regan 14)
Sligo All Stars 44 (22) (K Johnson 14, L Dolan 9, A McDermot 8) DCU Mercy 70 (44) (S Maguire 16, S O'Connor 15, S Woods 11)

Bausch & Lomb Waterford Wildcats 49 (28) (C O'Gorman 19, C Kavanagh 10) UL Basketball Club 75 (49) (S Nihill 24, R McNulty 18)

Basketball Ireland's Men's Division One
Maree 76 (39) (L Mitkus 22, L Conroy 20, S Zuirblinskas 14) Waterford 70 (30) (D Murphy 19, S Begadon 11)
Tolka Rovers 95 (53) (V Ignatavicius 43, R Dalgother 11, P Boylan 10) Queens 70 (32) (B Horner 24, J Loghrey 17)
Titans 75 (38) (P Peldzuis 28) Team Garvey's St. Marys 79 (45) (Galvin 25)
Team Meadowlands St. Brendan's 75 (38) (F O'Sullivan 14, R Leonard 11, L Culloty 9) Team Loftus Ballina 71 (31) (L McHale 15, C Leonard 12, P Papik 9)

Portlaoise 56 (25) (M O'Sullivan 25, A Burnell 9, P O'Sullivan 9) CHM Ballon BC 101 (53) (M Cepliauskas 24, T Cicenas 14, L Vitols 13)

Basketball Ireland's Women's Division One
St. Pauls 81 (37) (M Guiney 26, R O'Shea 15, L Jones 15) Oblate Dynamos 60 (28) (M Hynes 13, L McLoughlin 10, S Behan 9)

Thurles Knights 62 (27) (L Dunne 15) Glanmire 53 (20) (L Kelleher 13)
Sunday, November 08 2009

Nivea For Men's SuperLeague
UCD Marian 72 (33) (D James 21, L McCrone 19, N Baynes 12)Killester 67 (33) (J Turner 24, P Madsen 20, M Goj 11)
UCC Demons 80 (35) (S Coughlan 18, J Johnson 16, S Duggan 16) Hoops 89 (40) (C Arron 31, P Taylor 26, J Hastrup 10)

Belfast Star 68 (29) (M McKillop 15, K Dawson 14, S Summersgill 13) Neptune 78 (39) (J James 37, G Noonan 18, I McLoughlin 18)
DCU Saints v Moycullen, DCU Sports Complex, LATE

IrishSport.TV Women's SuperLeague
Meteors 68 (33) (L Delaney 17, L O'Brien 16, R Fitzgerald 9) Killester 73 (39) (C Frank 16, A Maguire 16, L Gray 12)

Basketball Ireland's Women's Division One
Brunell 68 (35) (A Myers 17, A Foley 13, M White 13) Liffey Celtics 53 (29) (M Foley 17, A O'Connor 11, S Conway 7)
Ulster Rockets 82 (49) (N Lennon 21, F Toner 13, N Prieto- Jimenez 12) UL Basketball Club 41 (26) (B Riordan 10 A Danagher 9)