Warriors maul Moycullen ahead of derby showdown

MEN’S SUPERLEAGUE

Moycullen 61 Garveys Tralee Warriors 79

GARVEY’S Tralee Warriors maintained their position at the top of Men’s Superleague by comfortably accounting for Moycullen by 79-61 at the Kingfisher Arena in NUI Galway on Saturday night. After an evenly contested opening quarter the defending champions cut loose in the second and third periods to establish a game-winning platform. Despite allowing the hosts to shoot freely in the final quarter and rack up a 23-point tally, the Warriors still had 18 points to spare at the end.

The Warriors opened proceedings with Ivan Bogdanovic on the mark early and when Jon Lawton hit in a three the visitors lead by 6. Dylan Cunningham got Moycullen out of the blocks and when Connor Curran added two, parity was restored. Lawton, Paul Dick and Andre Berry eased the Warriors ahead but Daniel Vila struck from distance to keep the gap to 4.

Three in a row from Moycullen saw them take the lead with two from Kyle Cunningham and another James Conaire but Darragh O’Hanlon arced in a two and Paul Dick fired a monster three pointer on the buzzer to see Warriors take a 19-16 lead to the quarter time break.

Lawton and Grant Olssen traded scores early in the second before the Warriors unleashed a barrage of scores that visibly rattled the hosts. In a breathless display of scoring the Warriors fired down threes through Bogdanovic, Rap Buivydas and Jon Lawton and inside scores from Paul Dick and Lawton again and in an instant the visitors opened up a commanding 18-point lead.

Defensively the Warriors were bossing the aerial contests with Andre Berry, Rap Buivydas, Ivan Bogdanovic and particularly Kieran Donaghy securing countless rebounds under their own board.

In fairness to Moycullen they tried to steady the ship with threes from Patrick Lyons and Dylan Cunningham but Berry and Paul Dick were both in range to leave 16 between the sides at the half time break.

The Warriors maintained their relentless pressure on the ball early in the third and with a mix of scores and free throws from Paul Dick, Lawton, Berry and Fergal O’Sullivan they built on their half time advantage to lead by 25 midway through the quarter.

Moycullen response was sporadic at best and their handful of scores in the quarter came courtesy of Olssen, Joseph Tummon and James Conaire. On the other hand the Warriors continued to score at will and back-to-back efforts from

Buivydas, another from Berry and a Fergal O’Sullivan special from distance saw the sides turn for home with the League champions leading 63-38.

The final quarter was something of a formality as the contest was well and truly decided before the Warriors stood off the Moycullen shooters who helped themselves to a half dozen three pointers in the last 10 minutes. Two from Conaire and Olssen and one each from Curran and Vila put a decent look on the scoreline but Warriors added to their tally with two from Lawton and one each from Bogdanovic, Buivydas, Berry, Pa McCarthy and Darren O’Sullivan saw the defending champions secure win number 14 of the season by 79-61 in the end.

The win keeps the Warriors one win ahead of Belfast Star with four games remaining in the campaign. TOP SCORERS

WARRIORS: Jon Lawton 18, Andre Berry 16, Ivan Bogdanovic 13

MOYCULLEN: Grant Olssen 15, James Conaire 13, Connor Curran 11

Next up for the Warriors is an all-out local derby showdown with Keane’s SuperValu Killorglin in Tralee on Saturday at 7.30pm. The games has already generated huge anticipation ahead of what promises to be a Superleague classic.