The final full series of fixtures in the Nivea For Men’s Superleague saw heartbreak for reigning champions Abrakebabra Tigers despite their win away to Ulster Elks, Limerick Lions stunned Belfast Star, while HOOPS suffered a home defeat to DCU Saints in the race for the final play-off position.
Northern Conference winners DART Killester prepared for the play-off’s with a comfortable win at home to Neptune and on Sunday UCC Demons continued their winning run at home to UCD/Marian.
Abrakebabra Tigers thought they had given their hopes of making the play-off’s a massive boost with an 86-79 win away to Ulster Elks but results elsewhere have dashed their hopes of ending their season on a high.
Tigers currently occupy third spot in the Southern Conference but with Limerick Lions and HOOPS set to face each other in the final remaining game of the regular season next weekend it means the Kingdom side, who have an inferior points difference against both sides, will finish in fourth position.
Even more frustrating for Tigers is the fact that if they finish level on points with Lions they will miss out courtesy of a single point. Lions inflicting a 14 point win earlier in the season, while Tigers atoned for that loss with a 13 point success but it has proved not to be enough.
‘We did our best but to go out on points difference is heartbreaking,’ said Tigers’ Head Coach Kevin O’Donoghue. ‘It is tough on the players and the club but we gave it everything and just came up short.
‘I’m sure we’ll bounce back and considering the season we have endured it’s great that we have even managed to have got this far and be in a position to get a place in the knockout stages of the competition.’
Tigers had to come from behind to beat an Elks side buoyed by a capacity crowd in Belfast. Trailing by a mere two points at the break the visitors had kept themselves in the game going into the third quarter, and still in sight of their much sought after victory.
CJ Hadley helped to provide them with seven points in a row in the third, on his way to another high scoring game against the Elks.
A good combination of scoring in the form of Roy Smallwood and Hadley in the fourth saw Tralee take the contest by seven points, 79-86, with both men scoring 21 and 33 points overall.
Limerick Lions have set up a mammoth final game of the season with HOOPS next weekend after producing a shock 84-82 win over a Belfast Star side, who were looking for their eight straight win of the season.
‘We are probably somewhat fortunate to be in a situation where we have a chance to get to the playoff stages of the league – but we’ll take it,’ said Lions Head Coach JP Nerbun.
‘It is important we just play loose and confident going into this last game. We have to believe in ourselves as a team and if we do that then we have a real chance of progressing.’
The first half of this game was keenly contested and finished with Star ahead by 2 points (40-38).
In the third quarter Star built up a nine point lead on the back of solid play and some poor shooting by Limerick.
Star held this advantage all the way to the last three minutes of the game, although Limerick did bring it back to a five point game on a few occasions.
With less than three minutes to go Limerick found their shooting range and Neil Campbell hit four 'threes', Scott Kinevane hit two more to tie up the game.
With five seconds left on the clock Star held a one point advantage when Rob Lynch hit a long pass to young Andrew Dawson to hit a final, buzzer beating three-pointer for Limerick to seal the win.
HOOPS were unable to match their play-off rivals this weekend and they are still searching for their first win of 2009 after a 90-83 loss at home to DCU Saints.
Eoin Darling and Kevin Lacey made a big impact for the Saints on their introduction in the second quarter. At the half the visitors were right back in it, trailing only by two, at 42 to 40 after looking out of the sorts in the opening period.
Martins Provisors caused the HOOPS big trouble on the inside hitting nine points and Eoin Darling added seven more in the third quarter.
HOOPS were poor from the foul line with Phil Taylor, Reed and Rob Taylor all missing gift opportunities, and at the end of the quarter they trailed DCU Saints by 65 points to 68.
An Eoin Chubb ‘three’ halved the deficit with twenty seconds left. HOOPS had to stop the clock, but Ortiz kept his cool to seal the victory and leave the home side rueing those missed free throws in the third.
DART Killester ended their regular season campaign with a fine 89-67 win at home to Neptune on Saturday night.
Mark Keenan’s side held an eight point advantage at the break and were always in control with Jim Grabowski, Michael Westbrooks and in particular Robbie Clarke impressing.
Neptune, who are already assured of a place in the play-off’s, enjoyed a good scoring display through Vincent James but it wasn’t enough to save his side from defeat.
UCC Demons are not relenting in their pursuit of the treble this season with their latest win coming against a strong UCD/Marian on a score line of 93-78.
Colin O’Reilly’s scoring spree continued with 39 points, while Luke McCrone hit 23 points for the visitors.
Meanwhile, in Basketball Ireland’s Women’s Superleague, Team Montenotte Hotel Cork secured second place in the regular season after beating DCU Mercy in a dramatic 74-71 thriller on Sunday.
A three pointer from Jennifer Strong in the closing seconds ensured their would be no overtime and their Head Coach Mark Scannell paid tribute to his players.
‘They showed tremendous resilience to fight back and this is a great confidence boost heading into the play-offs,’ said Scannell.
‘We have had a few indifferent results of late but this result is a great tribute to the squad’s spirit and determination. It was a great advertisement for women’s basketball in this country.’
UL Aughinish, who finished third, will face Montenotte in the play-off semi-finals and they managed to end the regular season on a high, beating Tolka Rovers by a solitary point (50-49).
Meteors ended their season in emphatic fashion, securing a 96-72 win over Leisureworld Churchfield Iona BC, while Bausch & Lomb Wildcats earned a 77-59 success ahead of their play-off journey.
