All- Stars big win
EJ’S SLIGO ALL-STARS 94 ULSTER UNIVERSITY ELKS 73
EJ Sligo All-Stars made it 3 Home wins in a row on Saturday night with a big performance against an understrength Ulster University Elks team. It was another absorbing contest with Elks taking an early lead and showing up some slack defending by All-Stars in the first Quarter. The home team were in the mood for entertaining though and eventually took control of the game towards the end of the first half. It was a lead they would hold right to the end and now EJ Sligo All-Stars are joint 3rd in the Northern Conference Table and play their closest opponents, Bad Bobs Tolka Rovers (Joint 3rd), next Saturday night in a must win game.
All-Stars Point Guard Inigo Zabalo missed the game through injury so they started with a first 5 of Tobi Brockmann, Zack Yonda, Cian Lally, Jesus SanMartin and Oisín O’Reilly. Elks started very strongly and lead 13-5 after 4 minutes as the Sligo defence struggled to come to terms with the skill and shooting of Elks American Michael Riopel. EJ Sligo All-Stars responded well after a Time Out with a basket from Tobi Brockmann and Zack Yonda scoring a 3-pointer from long distance. Elks then called a Time Out and went on a 6-0 run after to increase their lead to 9 points. Sligo Coach Carlos Rodriguez brought Emmet Keogh, Matthew Donnellan and Connor McClenaghan into the game for Yonda, Lally and SanMartin but Elks remained the sharper team for the rest of the first Quarter and lead on a scoreline of 18-27 at the break.
It was a different All-Stars team that came out for the 2nd Quarter though as they employed an aggressive full court press to good effect and quickly cut back the Elks lead. Emmet Keogh showed his trademark grit and determination to force Elks back and he picked up two quick Turnovers and two self-made Baskets early in the Quarter. Elks kept the scoreboard ticking over too with their American Riopel continuing to dominate on offence. Zack Yonda then followed up with two big 3-pointers in a row for EJ All-Stars though and the lead was reduced to 2 points. Elks coach called a Time Out to try to steady his team, but All-Stars continued to dominate after and were soon in the lead. Elks, who had travelled with only 5 fit players, were beginning to show signs of fatigue. One of the highlights of the game came in the 4th minute of the Quarter. Cian Lally had just scored a fast break layup for Sligo and as Elks Inbounded the ball they were hounded by the hungry All-Stars team. Elks managed to get to the front court, but Emmet Keogh stole the ball from them and raced clear. He spotted IT Sligo Victory Scholar Yonda to his left and laid off a lovely pass into his path. Yonda raced into the Key and smashed the ball home with a monster dunk to thunderous applause from the large Sligo crowd. Riopel kept Elks in touch and they briefly lead soon after but another big dunk by IT Sligo’s other Victory Scholar Connor McClenaghan pulled the home team back in front. EJ Sligo All-Stars closed out the half with a strong few minutes and lead by 59-47 at Half Time.
The 3rd Quarter started slowly with both teams only registering a single basket each in the first two minutes. The Home Team took control of the game over the course of the next two minutes with a 9-0 run as they raced into a 20-point lead courtesy of a 3-pointer from Oisín O’Reilly, a nice layup by Keogh and another 3-pointer by Lally. EJ Sligo AllStars were playing some lovely team basketball at this stage and their full court press was also paying dividends on defence. Credit must go to the 5 players from Elks because they never gave up despite getting no relief from substitutions. McClenaghan landed another crowd-pleasing Dunk for Sligo with two minutes left in the Quarter but the game had become a little scrappy at that stage as both teams struggled to score. The game was to become even more difficult for Elks as one of their players was injured with a minute to go in the 3rd and had to go off. All-Stars lead at the end of the Quarter 75-58. The 4th Quarter saw Elks back within 9 points and looking a threat before McClenaghan added a basket to settle the home team. Coach Rodriguez called a Time Out and asked for more from his team. They responded well and went on an 8-0 run. All-Stars full court press was reaping rewards against the tiring Elks team and they went on to close the game out with a 21-point win 94-73. EJ Sligo All-Stars have now won 3 consecutive Home Games and have two more to go before the turn of the year. Next up on Saturday 15th December are Tolka Rovers in a huge game to really lay down a marker to get into the top two and the Division 1 Play-Offs at the end of the season. EJ’S SlIGO ALL-STARS: Zack Yonda, Tobi Brockmann, Connor McCleneghan, Jesus SanMartin, Matthew Donnellan, Emmet Keogh, Oisin O’Reilly, Zak Balogun, Aaron Walsh, Mark Chambers, Cian Lally, Diarmuid Byrne. Top scorers for EJ Sligo All-Stars: Zach Yonda 23, Emmet Keogh 16, Tobi Brockmann 16, Connor McClenaghan 12.