The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Panthers maul Lakers in third quarter
Portlaoise Panthers 87 Scotts Lakers 74
IT was a disappointing road trip for Scotts Lakers when they were toppled by Portlaoise Panthers in St. Marys’s Hall Portlaoise last Saturday. Overall it was a quite poor team performance from the Killarney side and a disastrous third quarter contributed to their downfall.
Lakers had to plan without Padraig Lucey for this match and with Andrew Fitzgerald also absent from the first five, the Killarney side didn’t have their usual imposing presence under the boards. However Antuan Bootle was making an impression and with Cian Clernon and Mark Greene hitting big three-pointers, Lakers led 18-16 late in the first quarter. Unfortunately this was the only time in the match that Lakers enjoyed the advantage.
The sides were level 23 points each at the end of the first quarter and the home side gradually took control to lead 42-35 at half-time.
Panthers continued to dominate in the third quarter going on a 20 points to 2 run as the Lakers game plan completely fell apart.
Panthers foreign players Mantas Vilimas and Tim Stewart were dominant on both ends of the floor and the home side enjoyed a comfortable 66-48 lead entering the final period.
The game was effectively over at this stage but Lakers did have a late surge with good three-point shooting from Cian Clernon and Keith O’Grady. However the gap was too big to claw back and Portlaoise won by 13 points in the end.
Cian Clernon was best for Scotts Lakers hitting 24 points including four three-pointers. Other scorers for Lakers were Antuan Bootle 18, Justin Tuason 8, Andrew Fitzgerald 7, Mark Greene 5, Keith O’Grady 3, Shane Horgan 2, Billy Wiseman 2, Mihail Kapitanov 2, Niall O’Brien 2, Sean O’Neill 1.
Panthers: Mantas Vilimas 24, Tim Stewart 23 and Trevor Swayne 11.