Killorglin lose on the road to Templeogue

MEN’S SUPERLEAGUE

Templeogue BC 108 Keanes Killorglin 79

KEANE’S Supervalu Killorglin made a second journey to the capital in as many weeks on Saturday to take Dublin powerhouse Templeogue in the latest round of the men’s basketball Super League. Killorglin lost their opening two games in the league, but were hopeful that they had kickstarted their season last weekend when they got a huge win at home to Maree in overtime.

Templeogue, for their part, went into the game off the back of a big win against local rivals Dublin Lions. Home advantage is huge in this league and so taking everything into account, Templeogue would have been hot favourites going into game

The game opened at a very fast pace, with both teams playing strong at both ends of the court. With six minutes left in the period, Templeogue had the advantage by three, with the score 10-7, but Keanes American player Allan Thomas cancelled that out with a basket from well outside the arc.

Both teams traded scores but when Erik Flood made an outstanding defensive check, Templeogue recovered the ball and made the score to get their noses in front. They drove on from there and made a couple of unanswered baskets to leave the score at the end of the first quarter Templeogue BC 27 Killorglin 18.

Killorglin were struggling to stay with the home side in the second, and they increased their lead to 15 points by picking off open scores, 40-25 with 6.17 left. Allan Thomas was the main scoring threat for Killorglin but Templeogue are an experienced team, and they were doing a good defensive job on him.

Killorglin ran into foul trouble as well at this stage which sent Templeogue to the line for every foul. This was bad enough for the Kerry men but Templeogue also seemed to hit the target every time they took a three-point effort and by the time the buzzer went, it looked like the game was out of reach with the score Templeogue BC 56 Killorglin 31.

With a lead that big, you would think that the third quarter would almost be a case of just going through the motions. That didn’t happen though with both teams playing like the game was on the edge. In particular, Thomas and Flood with help from Declan Wall were playing really well for Killorglin and Templeogue outscored Keanes by only two points in this period, 30-28, which left the score at the end of third Templeogue BC 86 Killorglin 59.

The last was also a close encounter, with only a single basket between the teams, but the lead Templeogue built up in the first half was just too much for Killorglin and they were never going to be able to catch them. It finished 108-79 to Templeogue and so another loss for the Killorglin lads which leaves them firmly at the wrong end of the table.

TOP SCORERS

TEMPLEOGUE BC: Puff Summers 22 pts, Kason Killeen 17 pts

KEANES SUPERVALU KILLORGLIN: Allen Thomas 37 pts, Pranas Skurdauskas 14 pts, Erik Flood 12 pts