Maigh Cuilinn 74 (38)
Maree 80 (46)
For the second week in a row, Maigh Cuilinn let a golden chance to grab a win against cross county rivals Maree slip through their hands in the Basketball Ireland Men’s Superleague, losing again by just six points.
Akin to the week before, there was just a single basket between the sides in the closing phase but it was Maree once more that found the baskets when most required. Particularly devastating for Maigh Cuilinn on this occasion will be the nature of the baskets, coming as they did at the death of a shot clock following superb defence by Maigh Cuilinn that had forced under pressure shots late.
Credit of course to John Burke and Eoin Rockall who both made spectacular shots as the clock expired with a defender right in their face.
While the nature of the very end of the game will have hurt the nominal home side, the overall result of a narrow Maree win was probably just about a fair reflection of the going for the evening. Both sides will be very disappointed with their defensive efforts in general as there was a plethora of open shots available. Maree were, generally speaking, the more likely to hit those open shots and Tahmir Gadsen (24 points) the main beneficiary in netting five shots from three point range.
Maigh Cuilinn had excellent displays from Grant Olsson and Ivan Basic, who both had 20 points.
The lads now head north for an away fixture against University of Ulster before a run of three home games:-
- 4 Feb against Ballincollig (Kingfisher)
- 11 Feb against Neptune (Leitir Móir)
- 18 Feb against Éanna (Kingfisher)
Maigh Cuilinn Scorers: Grant Olsson 20, Ivan Basic 20, Josiah Laracey 11, Antonio Calvente 9, James Connaire 9, Joseph Tummon 3, Patrick Lyons 3, Dylan Cunningham 2, Aitor Perez, Kyle Cunningham