Warriors grind out important win over contenders Killester

MEN’S SUPERLEAGUE Garveys Tralee Warriors 86 Killester 80

Warriors had to dig deep to overcome a determined Killester challenge in the Men’s Superleague in Tralee last Saturday, and their 13th league win has ensured that they remain very much in the mix in terms of their season’s prospects and ambitions. It was a vital win for them given Killester’s placing on the League ladder, and one which maintained their recent momentum which has now seen them win seven successive league games, and provides them with the perfect platform for a challenge on the play off places.

Killester were always likely to provide formidable opposition even without Keith Anderson and Ciaran Roe and while Warriors retained a lead for long periods, and were in a comfortable position throughout the third and fourth quarters they had to withstand a vibrant response from the visitors which very nearly resulted in a win against the odds. Certainly the home side and their followers had to endure a pretty frantic and nail-biting finish with Trae Pemberton sealing the success with unerring accuracy from the free throw line. Once again he largely dictated the trend of proceedings and kept the scoreboard ticking over at times when Warriors scoring advantage was coming under threat.

Kieran Donaghy’s input was also hugely significant, ticking the boxes in all of the game’s categories, while Goran Pantovic’s powerful presence under both boards was another factor which had a vital bearing on the end result. Devoid of quality and scores the contest had a pretty indifferent start and at the half way point in the first quarter Warriors trailed by the bare minimum (5-6).

The introduction of Dusan Bogdanovic off the bench injected some scoring power into Warriors challenge, even if, their return from the free throw line was well below par. Eight points from the 6’11” centre, and a three from Fergal O’Sullivan ensured that the locals overhauled the deficit and led by five, 21-16, at the end of the opening quarter. Fergal O’Sullivan having come off the bench in the opening quarter continued to influence matters with some good scores, and with Pemberton now fully getting to grips with the situation and contributing ten points during this period which included two three-point scores, Warriors maintained their advantage and led 40-35 at half time with Jermaine Turner having netted just eight points for Killester up until this particular juncture.

Pemberton, with four three-pointers, really opened daylight between the sides throughout all of the third quarter with 16 points (59-43) separating the teams at the midway point. Killester however, never yielded an inch in their pursuit of victory and a three from Turner kept them in touch. Dusan Bogdanovic in foul trouble was withdrawn, and, a steal and a lay up from Darragh O’Hanlon meant that Warriors still retained a pretty comfortable advantage (66-54) going into the fourth and final quarter.

They still continued to keep Killester at arms length, but some extremely intense defending from the visitors, allied to a resourceful input in offence from the impressive Peder Madsen meant that Killester reduced the margin to single figures (78-69) with 2.42 remaining. A three from their top scorer Madsen brought them closer with the margin reduced to just four (78-74) with just over one minute remaining.

Momentarily, it looked as if Warrior’s lead might be overhauled having lost their composure and control. However, Pemberton once again steadied the ship and five free throws from him afforded Warriors the win in a pretty frantic finale.

A mixture of everything really from the Tralee combination on this particular occasion, but given the importance of the result, Coach Mark Bernsten was well pleased with the eventual outcome.

“It’s a big game, it’s two teams that are fighting for their lives to get in the play-offs, to get an edge, so there was no give in either team, and I didn’t expect it,” Bernsen said. “We had some people step up and do a great job. I thought Kieran Donaghy played as good a four quarters game as he has played all year. Trae (Pemberton) was just his usual self, I thought Goran (Pantovic) did a great job defensively, Fergal (O’Sullivan) made some big shots, Darragh O’Hanlon and Darren (O’Sullivan) both did a good job defensively, so it was a team win, and it’s a big step towards what we want.

“When you are playing the top five teams, and this is a team which has just lost in the Cup final, they’ve got character, they’ve got substance, and when you are playing people like that they are not going to go away. It was just one of those games, you play this kind of competition and you don’t have individual wins, it’s a team win or a team loss, and we were fortunate we had a team win. We got a little careless at the end, we had a couple of situations where we lost the ball, we may have got a little bit tired. We lost our rotation with some foul trouble and some issues, but it’s a big game, it’s a massive win, we can’t go forward without a win. We now go to the next one, that’s the way the game is played. It’s different in a lot of other sports, we don’t have a back door in this game.” TOP scorers TRALEE: T Pemberton 35 G Pantovic 12, R Leonard 9, K Donaghy 8, F O’Sullivan 8, D Bogdanovic 8 KILLESTER: P Madsen 22, J Turner 15, P Sullivan 11, C Nihill 10, A Casey 8 Warriors will play Eanna in Dublin on next Saturday at 6pm.