UCC Demons moved three points clear at the top of the Men's Super League after outscoring Energywise Ireland Neptune by 13 points in the fourth quarter to secure a 93-82 victory in Saturday night's Cork derby at Neptune Stadium.
Four points down against Neptune midway through the fourth quarter, Demons fought back with an eight-point run, Patrick Robinson delivering from the floor and free-throw line as he took his game total to a huge 36 points, while Elijah Tillman and Kyle Hosford supplied a further 34.
Neptune, with five players in double figures including Tamyrik Fields on 18, certainly put it up to the current table-toppers, but they were crucially held scoreless over the closing three minutes of the contest and, consequently, saw their three-game winning run brought to an end.
The result means UCC are three points clear of Killester in the table, albeit having played two games more than the Dublin side.
Flexachem KCYMS made it four wins in their last six league outings as they weathered a fourth-quarter revival by Irish Guide Dogs Ballincollig @MTU to see off their Cork rivals 94-88 in Killorglin Sports Complex.
Clayton Ladine and Beni Fungula each put up 25 points for the hosts, while Jeffery Okeke weighed in with 22, to help deny a Ballincollig side who failed to close the gap on their hosts despite recouping 11 points in the fourth quarter.
EJ Sligo All-Stars outgunned Griffith College Éanna by ten points in the fourth quarter to edge a 92-88 victory over the defending Super League champions in Mercy College.
Robert Montgomery delivered a game-high 31 points and 13 rebounds for Sligo, while Jonathan Brown served up 11 down the stretch for the hosts to take his tally on the night to 18.
Garvey’s Tralee Warriors did much of the heavy lifting in the opening half of their clash with Maree, outgunning their Galway rivals by 24 points by the break as they ran out 91-54 winners in University of Galway Kingfisher.
Marquavian Stephens emerged with a game-high 22 points, while Brandon Mahan and Daniel Jokubaitis provided an additional 33 for the visitors, who made a swift return to winning ways following their nine-point reversal at the hands of Belfast Star less than week before.
Templeogue took every quarter on their way to an 89-71 success against Bright St. Vincent’s in Saturday night’s Dublin derby in Nord Anglia.
Samuel Henderson drained six of his 11 attempts from beyond the arc and all, but two, of his 18 efforts from inside on his way to a colossal 43 points for the hosts, which went a long way to cancelling out the combined 46 that Isiah Gaiter and JaRon Thames bagged for St. Vincent’s.
Belfast Star battled their way back from eight points down midway through the third quarter to edge a 92-87 victory over UCD Marian in Newforge Sports Complex.
Maximillian Cooper chalked up 22 points and 13 rebounds for the hosts, while De Ondre Jackson and Max Richardson added a further 35 to the scoreboard to help address the combined 52 that Jonathan Jean and Lovre Tvrdic amassed for UCD.
