Lakers break one hundred to beat Celtics
DESPITE trailing by a whopping 22 points at one stage, Scotts Lakers bounced back in magnificent fashion to defeat Limerick Celtics in a thrilling clash at the Limerick IT SportsHub on Saturday night. A powerful second half performance brought the Killarney side back from the dead to snatch a victory that looked highly unlikely for long periods in this match.
Limerick Celtics started in convincing fashion and with American Matt St Amour on fire from threepoint range, the home side led 32-19 at the end of the first quarter. With St Amour continuing to punish the Lakers, the home side opened up a 22-point advantage and the match appeared to be well beyond the reach of Scotts Lakers. St Amour sank his seventh three-pointer of the half on the buzzer to give Limerick a 55-38 lead at the half-time interval.
Problems continued for Scotts Lakers early in the third quarter when Mihail Kapitanov was disqualified for two unsportsmanlike fouls. The Lakers trailed 70-55 midway through the third quarter but they gradually narrowed the deficit with outstanding play from Justin Tuason, Mark Greene, Andrew Fitzgerald, Padraig Lucey and Con O’Mahony and the gap was cut to 74-68 entering the final quarter.
It was very closely contested after this and Limerick led 88-86 with five minutes remaining. Veteran Keith O’Grady announced his introduction to the court with a massive three-pointer to give Scotts Lakers a narrow one point lead and they never looked back after this as they took complete control of the game. O’Grady sank another big three-pointer shortly after and Lakers led 94-89 with three minutes remaining. They maintained their advantage and enjoyed a comfortable 12 point win in the end.
Despite being on four fouls, Mark Greene really stepped it up with an outstanding performance hitting 21 second half points while the home side also struggled to contain the free scoring Justin Tuason. A return of 67 points in the second half for Scotts Lakers was very pleasing for Coach Vojkan Bencic and his squad. Scotts were without injured captain Philip O’Connor and it was also a great result considering that American Antuan Bootle only played for short periods as he makes his return from injury.
The outstanding Matt St Amour scored an amazing 53 points for Celtics followed by Emmet Browne 13 and Krystian Burchardt 12. However, Scotts Lakers had six players on double scoring figures led by Justin Tuason 25, Mark Greene 24, Andrew Fitzgerald 15, Padraig Lucey 13, Con O’Mahony 12, Mihail Kapitanov 10 and Keith O’Grady 6.
SCOTTS Lakers are at home this Saturday against Cork side Neptune in Killarney Sports Centre at 7.30pm. Neptune are one of the top sides in the league and have already secured three wins from three outings since the start of the season. They enjoyed a comprehensive 89-52 win over Sligo All Stars last weekend so it will definitely be the toughest test to date for Scotts Lakers.
Former Killarney star Ger Noonan is still a driving force for the Cork side and they also include quality players Roy Downey, Brian O’Neill, Shane Duggan and American Ian Thom. Scotts Lakers will be hoping that Killarney basketball supporters will come out in force for this one and it promises to be a great occasion.