Lakers come through their clash with the Titans

NATIONAL LEAGUE DIVISION ONE Scotts Lakers 95 Galway Titans 70

AS expected Scotts Lakers encountered little difficulty against cellar-dwellers Galway Titans in Killarney Sports Centre last Saturday. The Tribesmen have only recorded one win so far this season and never really looked like adding to that last weekend. Nevertheless the very young Titans squad battled bravely throughout against a superior Killarney side.

With Dailian Mason and Mark Greene hitting early baskets, Scotts Lakers led 16-8 midway through the first quarter. Sean O’Brien also added a three-pointer and the home side were 24-15 in front at the end of the first quarter.

Andrew Fitzgerald made his presence felt under the boards as Lakers led 34-26 midway through the second quarter. Mason added another three-pointer to push Lakers 37-27 in front while Papito Hersisia also impressed as the home side enjoyed a 46-32 advantage at half-time.

Scotts Lakers led 55-43 midway through the third quarter and with Mason, Hersisia and O’Brien adding the big scores, the home side were 67-52 ahead entering the final quarter.

Seamus Brosnan and Dailian Mason extended the lead to 76-55 with 7:20 left. Outstanding team captain Mark Greene continued to impress with a succession of baskets to open up a 30 point lead, 95-65, for Scotts Lakers. In the end it was a comfortable 25 point winning margin.

Titans American Tom Rivard, a former college teammate of Sean O’Brien at Colgate University, was the stand out player for the westerners with a game high of 32 points while Ben Kelly was the best of the young local players for the Titans.

Scotts Lakers had an impressive scoring return with five players on double figures with captain Mark Greene leading the way again. SCOTTS LAKERS: Mark Greene 22, Papito Hersisia 21, Sean O’Brien 18, Dailian Mason 17, Andrew Fitzgerald 11, Seamus Brosnan 4, Cian Clernon 2, Dylan O’Sullivan.

GALWAY TITANS: Tom Rivard 32, Ben Kelly 14, Kelvin Atu 8, James Kabana 6, Matthew Sweeney 5, Chidera Okeke 5.

Bishop of Kerry Ray Browne, centre, with from left, Connie Brosnan (venue officer), Joe Coughlan (Galway Titans and former Killarney coach), Niall O’Callaghan (match announcer) and Eoin Coughlan at the Scotts Lakers St. Paul’s versus Galway Titans National League game in Killarney last Saturday. Photo by Eamonn Keogh

the weekend was Ballincollig’s unbeaten run coming to an end with a 96-85 loss to Dublin Kubs. The Cork side still lead the way in the southern conference with a 16-1 record while Scotts Lakers are in second place with a 14-3 record. Eanna are unbeaten in the northern

conference with a 15-0 run. Scotts Lakers are free this weekend and their next outing is a long away trip to Belfast on January 19 to face University Ulster Elks. The next home game in Killarney Sports Centre is on February 2 against LYIT Donegal.

The big shock in Division One at