The Ireland senior men’s team stormed home to a podium finish with an 86-66 point victory over Gibraltar in the FIBA European Championship for Small Countries bronze-medal game.
Taiwo Badmus put in an exceptional performance with 19 points, including two spectacular slam dunks to lead the Irish to victory.
He was later named on the tournament All Star five team.
Ireland got off to a rapid start, with Badmus and Travis Black getting some big scores on the board, and Keelan Cairns and Ciaran Roe adding two big three-pointers to take an early 19-12 lead at the end of the quarter.
Pete Strickland’s men hit cruise control in the second quarter, with key scores from Badmus, Jordan Blount and Adrian O’Sullivan building the lead further, to have a 46-25 point cushion at the half.
Gibraltar made every effort to claw back the lead in the second half, with their star man Miguel Ortega Amusco on form from behind the three-point line, but the Irish were not going to be knocked off the podium and cruised home to a 20-point win in the end.
Strickland stated: "The commitment we’ve got from our players is immense and their sacrifice has been incredible. It’s especially nice to end the tournament on a high note like this."
Back home in Cork meanwhile there was disappointment for the Ireland senior women’s team as they fell to Cyprus 75-82 in the 5/6th place classification game.
Despite holding a 44-39 point lead at half-time, a shakey third quarter from the Irish allowed the visitors back into the game and it finished all square (62-62) going into the last.
Big defense and some big scores from the girls in green were just not enough as momentum swung in favour of Cyprus down the stretch and they pushed on through to win out 75-82 in the end.
The Irish Senior Men's receive their bronze medals for this year's tournament! #FIBASmallCountries #GreenShoots #COYBIG pic.twitter.com/xxrFJjV2hg
— Basketball Ireland (@BballIrl) July 1, 2018
