St Vincent’s (Dublin) 73 (40)
Maigh Cuilinn 83 (39)
Big games are made for big players and in what was a crucial one for Maigh Cuilnn, team captain Grant Olsson was immense, scoring 40 points as his side ran out deserving 73 to 83 winners on the road against St Vincent’s of Dublin in the Basketball Ireland Men’s Superleague.
Hailing originally from Kansas USA, Olsson has been with Maigh Cuilinn for four years now and has thrown himself into the club as a coach and player and will have been well aware of how important a win against the lower ranked Vincent’s was for Maigh Cuilinn’s survival hopes at the top tier of Irish basketball.
“It is a huge win for us and one we targeted for sure,” remarked Olsson after the game.
“Vincent’s size around the ring caused us problems at times but I felt like we were playing the better basketball and in particular I felt like we moved it better on the offensive end which definitely felt like it created a lot more easy scoring chances for us than what they had.”
Olsson grabbed the headlines without doubt. It is hard not to do so after a 40 point performance. The strange thing about the game however was that it was Maigh Cuilinn who played the far better team orientated game versus what St Vincent’s were ultimately reduced to.
Facing what was a hard nosed Maigh Cuilinn defensive effort through the game, Vincent’s slowly reverted to one versus one isolation basketball in contrast to a Maigh Cuilinn team that swung the ball side to side and through a variety of players hands on each attack.
This was never more evident than in the third quarter when the visitors from Galway established what would be the deciding lead in the match, opening up to a double digit difference at times.
If Maigh Cuilinn had made but a small percentage of the open looks they generated this game would have been over entering the fourth quarter. As it was, their misses were mitigated in part by a tenacious assault on the offensive glass, the main beneficiary of which was the tireless Olsson who scored off a series of second attempts to add to his impressive variety of points from post ups as well as catch and shoot threes.
In what was an understandably nervy start to a game between two sides who have more losses than wins this year, the first quarter was not for the basketball purist. Both sides struggled to score, Maigh Cuilinn living almost exclusively off free throws, Vincent’s from points off turnovers.
The game opened up somewhat in the second quarter, Aitor Perez, Patrick Lyons and Ivan Basic all having good spells for Maigh Cuilinn. It looked like the visitors were going to take a nice lead into the break before some sloppy turnovers gave St. Vincent’s the slimmest of margins, 40 points to 39.
The game was truly there for the taking in the third and there could be little question as to who did the taking. Inspired by Olsson, but aided by some fine scores from Kyle Cunningham, James Connaire and Antonio Calvente, Maigh Cuilinn hit a purple patch in play that was not fully reflected on the scoreline.
What could have been an insurmountable lead going into the final period was in fact just a nervy seven points, albeit, Maigh Cuilinn were clearly now playing the better basketball.
Thankfully for the travelling support, the flow of the game continued through the fourth much as it had in the third and although Maigh Cuilinn never found their full shooting touch to blow the game open, a comeback from Vincent’s always seemed unlikely.
In the end, it was a very well deserved 10 point win on a score of 73 to 83, a second straight win in the Superleague for Maigh Cuilinn and a result that lifts them ahead of Demons, Ulster University and Vincent’s in the standings.
It might be a relaxing Christmas for the rest of us, but a massive game in Cork against Demons now awaits the men from Maigh Cuilinn on 29 December and a chance for them to separate from the pack risking relegation.
Maigh Cuilinn Scorers: Grant Olsson 40, James Connaire 10, Aitor Perez 10, Ivan Basic 8, Antonio Calvente 6, Patrick Lyons 4, Kevin Nugent 3, Kyle Cunningham 2, Dylan Cunningham, Joseph Tummon