Killorglin lose their unbeaten home record to Templeogue

MEN’S SUPERLEAGUE Killorglin 54 Templeogue 67

KEANES Supervalu Killorglin welcomed Dublin powerhouse Griffith college Templeogue in the latest round of the men’s basketball Super League last Saturday night.

Killorglin have shown fantastic form at home in the league this year, going unbeaten to date and with Templeogue having one eye on next weeks cup final, Keanes were confident of maintaining that zero loss home record coming into the game.

Killorglin won possession from the tip off but Allan Thomas, normally so reliable from outside, couldn’t find the basket and Templeogue’s Lorcan Murphy went up the other end to score from the resulting possession to kick-start the scoreboard.

Killorglin had another two goes at opening their account but again, both O’Reilly and Jones missed with their attempts. It got worse for Keanes when Templeogue’s American player Darren Townes intercepted a pass and went the length of the floor before finishing with a dunk – 0-7 with 7:12 on the clock.

Templeogue hit another before Rami Ghanem finally opened Keanes’ account with a three. Coach O’Reilly brought in new American signing Denzel Brito for Keanes and his presence seemed to up the tempo for the home side, with Pranus Skurdauskas in particular benefiting from Brito’s outstanding rang of passing.

These two combined for eight points before O’Reilly added a three to leave the minimum between them at the end of the first Killorglin 14 Templeogue 15

Brito opened the second with a two, but Stephen James did one better for Templeogue. O’Reilly than added a two to draw the teams level – 18 apiece with 8:09 left in the half. Killorglin were having some difficulties with the decision making from the refs and the home crowd were loud in their disapproval when Allan Thomas got a technical for protesting not getting a call his way.

Both teams went score for score for the rest of the half, with Ghanem, Jones and O’Reilly all finding the net for Killorglin to leave the score at half-time Killorglin 28 Templeogue 30.

The referees opened the third period with yet another contentious call, this time an offensive foul by Allan Thomas, but the same player won back possession and went the length of the hall to finish a lovely individual score.

After further exchanges, Killorglin got their noses in front after Colin O’Reilly finished with a finger roll to the basket, and when Brito added a three in the next passage of play, things were looking good for the home side.

However, yet again, the refs were the centre of attention and after another questionable decision, Templeogue reduced their lead via a basket and bonus shot. Then came the pass of the night, from the hands of Denzel Brito again, as his full court lop pass landed in the path of Ghanem, who finished the lay up to give Killorglin the lead by three, 41 to 38 with 2:53 left.

However, Templeogue went on a run, and finished with unanswered two lay ups and a buzzer beating three from Arriaga to swing things around and when the teams went in for the last break, it was Killorglin 41 Templeogue 45.

Killorglin drew level almost straight away in the opening minute of the fourth, with scores from Jones and Thomas. They won the ball again and had a chance to hit the lead, but Flood missed the lay-up and when Arriaga hit a three for Templeogue at the other end from the possession, it felt like the wind left the Killorglin sail a little bit.

Templeogue then added to their lead and with 5:24 left, there was seven between them and Killorglin needed to go on a run. However, again, a miss from a lay up was answered with a three from Arriaga, his fourth of the night and it was a 10 point game with 4:20 left.

Killorglin did try hard for the last few minutes, but Templeogue are a top team for a long time, and they used their experience to see out the last few minutes, even adding to their lead before the buzzer went to give them the win by 13 points on a score line of Killorglin 54 Templeogue 67.

TOP SCORERS

KEANES SUPERVALU KILLORGLIN: Rami Ghanem 20, Colin O’Reilly 9, Allan Thomas 7

TEMPLEOGUE BC: Xabier Arriaga 19, Darren Townes 17, Lorcan Murphy 9