Deadly Davis on fire as Star put Saints to the sword in style

BELFAST Star’s American Mike Davis sent out a message on Saturday night to the rest of the All Ireland Superleague that he has the firepower to burn any team in the league.

Star coach Adrian Fulton admitted there were moments in Star’s sensational 96-55 thumping of DCU Saints in Dublin that Davis was simply “unplayable”.

The Belfast side’s confidence will have gone through the roof after three comprehensive victories, particularly the last two and Davis has been at the forefront. But on Saturday night he came up with 39 points and left the Saints in turmoil right from the first quarter.

In addition, Slovenian Mark Berlic was on fire at both ends of the court, while Conor Quinn and Paddy McGaharan also had crucial contributions in one of Star’s biggest wins in recent years.

“When you have new professionals coming in and three local guys who didn’t play last year, it’s going to take time for things to come together but I must say that we were really good on Saturday night. It’s still very early days but that was impressive because DCU are a good side and have been competitive in the league so far,” said Fulton.

“It was a great performance from Mike Davis. It didn’t matter where he got the ball or who was guarding him, the ball was going in the basket — and they tried three or four guys to try and stop him but it didn’t work.

“He has that winning mentality and it is rubbing off on the other players.”

While offensively Star ran the Dubliners ragged, Fulton was also quick to point to the defensive attributes of his side as they brought a great intensity throughout the game.

“Without a solid defence we couldn’t have been able to do so well offensively. We knew they would have some size on us but it didn’t matter because the guys worked so hard,” added Fulton.

This Saturday night Star are at home to Neptune in the Cup and will have 7ft Englishman Mike Thiep added to their roster. BRENDAN Rodgers praised “tactically brilliant” Callum McGregor after the Celtic midfielder shifted around the Hoops system seamlessly in the 4-2 win over Hibernian at Parkhead on Saturday.

The 25-year-old Scotland international was at his versatile best as the home side first reshuffled in the 21st minute when skipper Scott Brown went off injured to be replaced by winger Scott Sinclair.

Midfielders Tom Rogic and Olivier Ntcham both scored in the opening 45 minutes and