Captain comes up trumps
BALLYMENA DROGHEDA WOLVES 59 67
AFTER bowing out of the physically and emotionally draining National Intermediate semi-finals, the Wolves returned to the court against Ballymena BC last Thursday for a Northern Ireland Premier League game and pulled off an eight-point win to extend their lead at the summit of the table.
Despite missing the services of Steven Safo Sackey and Rafa Ruiz Martínez, the Drogheda men got the win thanks to the heroics of Adam Mullally, team captain Ciaran McGroggan and Andrius Andreas.
The Wolves were actually trailing 18-15 after the first quarter but made a comeback in the second courtesy of Mullally’s eight points and took over the lead - 30-28 - at the half-way point.
However, the home team dominated the Wolves in the third with a 20-11 scoring difference to regain the advantage - 47-41. Andreas’ seven points and Padraig McGroggan’s four markers were the only field goals scored by Wolves during that period.
With their eight-game winning streak in this competition under threat, captain Ciaran McGroggan stepped up to the plate in timely fashion. Having scored only three in the first half, he exploded for 10 points in this crucial period.
The other starters also found their shooting form at that stage and turned the deficit around to win, and that was despite managing to knock down two triples which is a season low for the team after consistently averaging almost 10 per game.
Nevertheless, this was a ninth straight win for Wolves in the BNI Premier League and puts them at the summit with a 9-2 record, although second-in-the-table Belfast Phoenix do have two games in hand.
The Boynesiders’ next outing will be at home against Ulster University Tigers on Saturday. DROGHEDA WOLVES: