League win for Lakers ahead of huge Cup game against Celtics

NATIONAL LEAGUE DIVISION ONE Scotts Lakers St Paul’s 80 Portlaoise Panthers 76

SCOTTS Lakers winning record continued against a spirited Portlaoise Panthers side in Killarney Sports Centre last Saturday. Both sides lined out without a number of regulars and the home side held on to win by four points to stay in second place on the southern conference table with a 10-2 record.

Lakers were without Dutch power forward Papito Hersisa and his loss was quite significant but the absence of Panthers American Mike Pierre was also a notable factor.

The visitors started brightly with Mantas Vilimas scoring their opening nine points and the midlanders led 12-5 with six minutes left in the first quarter. Scotts Lakers responded well with three quick three-pointers from Dailian Mason while the introductions of Padraig Lucey and Seamus Brosnan proved to be extra scoring threats and the home side led 23-17 at the end of the first quarter.

Seamus Brosnan continued to impress hitting a brace of three-pointers and Lakers led 38-28 after three minutes of the second quarter. However the home side then failed to score for almost a full six minutes as Portlaoise went on a 11-0 run to take a 38-39 lead with 1:40 left in the half. Scotts Lakers finished stronger with Sean O’Brien upping the tempo with a basket and two three-pointers in the closing minute and the home side led 46-41 at half-time.

Jack Dooley, Kyle Burke and Mantas Vilimas kept the Panthers in contention and they were in control again leading 48-49 midway through the third quarter. However Lakers hit back again with Mark Greene, Seamus Brosnan, Sean O’Brien, Dailian Mason and Padraig Lucey all contributing well and it was 63-56 in Laker’s favour entering the final quarter.

Lucey, O’Brien and Brosnan extended the advantage to 68-60 but a three-pointer from Gary Morrissey narrowed it to 68-65 midway through the final quarter. The Panthers had a chance to narrow the gap further but a superb block from Mark Greene stopped their momentum at a crucial stage. The Lakers took control again with Mason, O’Brien, Lucey and Greene opening up a ten point lead, 79-69, with 1:11 left. There was no was back for a brave Portlaoise side at this stage but they never gave up and a three-pointer from James Phelan on the final buzzer narrowed the final deficit to four points in the end.

Overall it wasn’t a great team performance from Scotts Lakers and they will need to improve with tougher tests ahead. The absence of Papito Hersisa clearly limited their inside scoring threat and left a lot of work for Andrew Fitzgerald, Padraig Lucey and Shane McCarthy to do in the battle of the boards. Lucey, who has missed a number of games this season, benefited from the extra court time and was a dominant force as the game progressed. He finished with 13 points and has so much to offer this Scotts Lakers team if they are to challenge for honours this season.

The Lakers shot 12 three-pointers on the night with Mason leading the way with five followed by three each from Sean O’Brien and the impressive Seamus Brosnan and one from Mark Greene

SCOTTS LAKERS: Sean O’Brien 26, Dalian Mason 15, Seamus Brosnan 15, Padraig Lucey 13, Mark Greene 8, Andrew Fitzgerald 2, Shane McCarthy 1.

PORTLAOISE PANTHERS: Mantas Vilimas 29, Jack Dooley 13, Kyle Burke 12, James Phelan 7, Gary Morrissey 6, Conor Byrne 6, Dylan Dunne 3.

A minute’s silence was observed before the game in memory of former local basketball legend Weeshie Fogarty, a man synonymous with the history and progress of Killarney basketball since the 1950s.