Warriors dig deep to beat reigning champions UCC
MEN’S SUPERLEAGUE
IN what was every inch a pretty pulsating encounter, Garveys Warriors dug deep to fashion a quite notable success over the reigning League Champions UCC Demons last Friday night in front of their hugely enthusiastic home support in a packed Tralee Sports Complex.
The win owed much to their resolute and collective defensive efforts which limited the normally prolific Cork side to less than seventy points for the first time this season. In this regard, the game’s MVP Goran Pantovic produced a defensive masterclass with a succession of superb blocks along with chipping in with a most creditable sixteen points at the other end of the court. But, really this was essentially a team performance littered with some excellent individual inputs at varying intervals with eight different players contributing to the scoring.
Trae Pemberton’s scoring returns from all angles and distances, Kieran Donaghy’s leadership, Darragh O’Hanlon’s unselfish and wholehearted efforts, especially in defence, Fergal O’Sullivan’s pin point accuracy, Ryan Leonard’s hat trick of baskets just after halftime, Darren O’Sullivan’s heart warming intensity, and Dusan Bogdanovic’s imposing presence were all significant factors.
Warriors got off to the perfect start, opening up an early lead (13-2) with Pemberton netting a brace of threes. However, a similar return from the outstanding Adrian O’Sullivan meant that Demons overhauled the deficit and led (23-19) at the end of the opening quarter, with O’Sullivan having contributed ten points to Demons tally.
With both sides guilty of some needless turnovers, scores were at a premium for long periods of a pretty frantic second quarter, but with Donaghy, Darragh O’Hanlon and Darren O’Sullivan injecting a lot of energy into Warriors play they went back in front (26-25) by the midway point, and two superb threes from Fergal O’Sullivan meant that they had increased their advantage (34-30) by the half time break with the impressive Adrian O’Sullivan with 14pts leading the scoring honours at this juncture.
The third quarter essentially belonged to the home side, with Ryan Leonard coming back in and scoring six points inside three minutes. Trae Pemberton really stepped up to bring his own individual tally to eighteen points, which included another three, his third, just before the end of the third quarter.
It meant that the locals led by eighteen points (64-46) going into the fourth and final quarter and it was significant that Demons American player Jacob Lawson wasn’t really influencing matters, scoring wise, with Adrian O’Sullivan on twenty points at this juncture carrying the burden of his side’s scoring returns.
A basket from Kyle Hosford initiated a response from Demons at the outset of the final quarter and with Ciaran O’Sullivan adding a three, Warriors for a period were stuck in second gear.
Adrian O’Sullivan netted his third three and with the lead reduced to just nine points (68-59) with 5.36 left on the clock, and, the momentum now fully in favour of Demons, there was, momentarily, the possibility that the visitors could well fashion a win against all of the odds.
However, Pemberton’s neat and precise finishing allied to Pantovic’s defensive heroics, meant that Warriors weathered the storm with a steal and a dunk from Ryan Leonard sealing a victory which was greeted with great celebration by their vociferous home support.
Certainly with every player now back on board, the options for Coach Mark Bernsen has increased significantly and having lost to Demons by fifteen points in the very first game of the season the wheel has turned somewhat in the intervening period with Warriors now in fourth spot on the League ladder, above Demons and currently positioned in a playoff place.