Hibernian UCD Marian comfortably beat Esat Business Demons by 97 to 81 in the ESB Basketball Superleague. A virtuoso performance from Kevin Meany in the second and third quarters broke the Demons defence, aided by a dominant game from Torian Richards. UCD Marian are now in third place in the league, while the Demons are sixth.
Second placed Neptune beat rock bottom Tyrone Towers by 107 – 71 in a lacklustre contest, which saw Kenny Gamble score an impressive 39 points, while Abbey Foods Sligo went down 58 - 67 at home to table toppers Waterford Crystal.
Reigning league champions DART Killester's recovery from a poor start to the season was capped by a 118 – 91 home win over Gleneagle Lakers. The Kerrymen held their own in the first quarter but the home side began to take control in the second and went in at the interval with a 53-44 lead. DART had their now customary burst in the third quarter and eventually ran out comfortable winners. Despite the victory, coach Jerome Westbrooks was not happy with the team's performance. “I will give them a good rollicking on Tuesday. Their concentration at times was awful. You saw how much they gave the ball away and then had to fight to get it back. I’m delighted with another win but not the way we did it," he said. DART now lie in fifth place on 66 points, nine adrift of league leaders Waterford Crystal.
Frosties Tigers picked up their fifth win of the season with a 115 – 96 victory over St Vincent's to put the Tralee side firmly back in the championship race. Tralee captain John Teahan produced a superb display, racking up 41 points. Frosties raced to a 33-19 first quarter lead and by half time the home team had scored a staggering 64 points to St Vincent's paltry 38. St.Vincent's never looked likely to trouble Tralee in the second half and the free scoring home team romped to an easy victory, bringing them up to fourth place in the league.
The mid-table clash between Big Al's Notre Dame and Burger King Limerick hinged on a controversial decision to call a foul on Limerick's Terence Wilson with four seconds to go. This gave Limerick the opportunity to take this game into overtime where they went on to win by eight points, winning 92 - 100.
Tolka Rovers beat lowly Sx3 Star away from home by 95 – 82. Star's miserable afternoon was compounded by an ankle injury to Adrian Fulton after just two minutes. Despite Fulton’s absence, Star finished level with Tolka, 23-23 at the end of the first quarter. The second quarter continued basket for basket and the teams were level at half time at 44 - 44. Star took the lead at the end of the third quarter, 71-69, but this momentum could not be maintained and they lost it in the final ten minutes. Tolka Rovers hit 26 points in the final quarter but Star could only managed a mere 11. Paddy Boylan fouled out for Tolka in the closing minutes, but the Dublin side already had the game wrapped up.
Filed by Greg McKevitt
