Fulton flair inspires St Malachy’s to cup success
CJ Fulton had the crowd on their feet in the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght yesterday when he netted a whopping 47 of his side’s 62 points in the Subway Schools’ Under-16 A Boys Cup final.
It was a shooting exhibition from Fulton (right) with 45 of those points coming from a massive tally of 15 three-pointers.
For St Malachy’s Belfast, it was a day they’ll never forget as they stormed to a 62-46 point win over St Mary’s CBS The Green (Tralee), who just had no answer for the fire of Fulton.
The opening quarter was nip and tuck, with Rapolas Buivydas dominating for Tralee, getting in some early scores to keep the schools neckand-neck.
However, six of Fulton’s three pointers were to come in this quarter and, unable to keep him under control, St Malachy’s held a 2815 point lead by the first buzzer.
And it didn’t stop — it rained threes for the Belfast side for the remainder of the game, with Conor Eastwood adding a good score early on, but the first half — like the game — belonged to Fulton, who finished the second quarter with 33 points to his name to see his side ahead 43-23 going into the third.
Again, it was Buivydas who continued to be a handful for the St Malachy’s defence as the third quarter got underway, and brilliant link up play with Niall Fitzmaurice and Darragh Broderick saw some great scores for the Tralee school.
A much closer affair ensued, with the sides matching each other score for score, but St Malachy’s still had a big margin going into the last, 57-35 to the good.
Another top class display from Fulton throughout the end saw him finish the game with 15 three-pointers in total and there was no question in anyone’s mind as to where the MVP award was going his St Malachy’s team ran out 62-46 point winners.
St Malachy’s, Belfast: John Rainey, CJ Fulton (47), Ryan Kingi, Conor Eastwood (4), Niall Morgan, Odhran O’Boyle (3), Conall McGirr, Darragh Ferguson (2), Niall Quinn, Vinecent Enginco, Conor McDonnell (2), Denis Price (4), Jordan Cunningham, Eoin Hackett, Callum Rocks.
MVP: CJ Fulton (St Malachy’s Belfast)