The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Double defeat for struggling Lakers
NATIONAL LEAGUE DIVISION ONE
Scotts Lakers St Paul’s 56 Fr Mathews, Cork 67
IT was a disappointing weekend for Scotts Lakers suffering a double defeat at home to Fr Mathews and away to Paris Texas Kilkenny.
The Lakers were slightly under strength in both outings with the influential Padraig Lucey ruled out through injury while point guard Mihail Kapitanov picked up an injury on Saturday and sat out Sunday’s encounter.
It was a low scoring drab encounter against Fr Mathews in Killarney on Saturday where Lakers held the upper-hand in the first half but a third quarter collapse contributed to their downfall and effectively handed the advantage to the Cork side. Just one basket from play and three free throws was the total Lakers scored in this third quarter and returns like that just aren’t good enough to compete at this level.
Lakers started well and with Andrew Fitzgerald and Antuan Bootle leading the way, the home side were 15-13 in front at the end of the third quarter. A big three-pointer from Mark Greene kept them in front and the energetic Justin Tuason was outstanding at the end of the half to push Lakers 29-25 ahead at the break.
The third quarter belonged to Fr Mathews with Paul O’Driscoll finding his form as they hit ten points without reply to lead 35-29 with four minutes left. Lakers had yet to register a score at this stage in the quarter. Two free throws from Bootle opened their account with 3.43 left and it was over seven minutes of playing time before Fitzgerald netted their first basket from play. Fr Mathews outscored Lakers 17-5 in this period to lead 42-34 as the game entered the final quarter.
Mathews’ Marcus Thomas and point guard Michael McGinn kept their side in control as they raced into a 59-42 lead with over three minutes left. Some great work from Dan Griffin and a basket from Dylan O’Sullivan gave the Lakers a glimmer of hope as they cut the gap to 59-50 with 2.20 remaining. However there was no catching the Cork side with Thomas automatic from the free throw line to secure a 11-point win for them. SCOTTS LAKERS: Antuan Bootle 13, Andrew Fitzgerald 11, Justin Tuason 10, Dan Griffin 8, Philip O’Connor 5, Mark Greene 4, Mihail Kapitanov 3, Dylan O’Sullivan 2.
FR MATHEWS: Marcus Thomas 24, Michael McGinn 20, Paul O’Driscoll 14.
Paris Texas Kilkenny 86 Scotts Lakers 72
FOLLOWING Saturday’s defeat, Scotts Lakers were on the road early on Sunday for a lunchtime tip-off against Paris Texas Kilkenny. Still feeling the effects from the night before, the Lakers struggled to find their range early on and the home side led 29-9 at the end of the first quarter.
Scotts Lakers stepped it up in the second quarter but still trailed 44-35 at the interval break. They were still chasing the game for long periods of the second half and actually narrowed the deficit to just two points at one stage. However the home side held on and pulled away again late in the third quarter to win by 14 points. PARIS TEXAS KILKENNY: Taylor Young 25, Brian Hogan 15, Julian O’Keeffe 14.
SCOTTS LAKERS: Antuan Bootle 21, Mark Greene 16, Dan Griffin 11. Scotts Lakers will face Fr Mathews again this Sunday in the quarter-final of the President’s National Cup in Colaiste Chriost Ri, Cork at 3pm. Fr Mathews will be firm favourites and home advantage is another boost to them.