Ballincollig 85 Eanna 70
Ballincollig produced a season-best to defeat Dublin side Eanna in the first round of the Pat Duffy Men’s National Cup at the MTU Arena on Saturday.
Make no mistake, this was basketball at its finest as the hosts did everything right after a sluggish start with some of their defending off the charts to completely shut down their Dublin opponents.
Plenty of heroes in this smashing display with Latavious Mitchell (23), Lattrell Jossell (19), Josh Steel (14) and Adrian O’Sullivan (14) very effective in the offence court.
The home side were playing man-to-man defence from tip-off with Kristen Andabaka giving the visitors an early lead with a brace of free throws. Eanna were playing similar defence and James Gormley increased their lead in the second minute with a stunning floater and he followed with an impressive slammer.
Amazing Gormley followed up with a second slammer in the fourth minute as Ballincollig immediately called a time-out trailing 10-2. As the quarter matured, the tempo increased with both sides continuing to battle for every ball on the boards.
The home side, after making a few substitutions, got their mojo back and they were level in the seventh minute following a stunning Mitchell drive to the hoop that yielded a basket and bonus. In the closing minutes, baskets were bare but Ballincollig finished on a high as a deft move from Alberto Rodriguez gave them a slender one-point lead 18-17.
Adrian O’Sullivan has really come into form in recent weeks and he started with a basket and three-pointer that helped the home side lead 26-19 in the 13th minute. The big problem for Eanna was their shots were not dropping, with Ballincollig hustling them all over the floor.
Ballincollig’s Keelan Cairns blocks Éanna’s Mikah Blackwell as he drives toward the basket. Picture: Chani Anderson.
Keelan Cairns produced a monstrous three-pointer and Lattrell Jossell drained a three and with four minutes remaining to the interval, Ballincollig had surged into a 17-point lead 38-21.
The closing minutes to the break were scrappy with Eanna playing far better defence they reduced the deficit to nine points 39-30.
Looking at the half-time stats for Ballincollig they shot 8/22 inside the paint 36% and 5/19 outside the arc that gave them a 26% average. The visitors had a poor half with 8/20 inside the arc and 1/9 outside the paint giving them a mere 11% which will disappoint their coaching staff as they are usually a good shooting team.
On the restart consecutive from Eanna’s Gormley and Sean Jenkins got them up and running with the deficit reduced to five points.
Credit to Ballincollig they refused to panic and with Mitchell draining a brace of baskets and Cairns knocking down this second three-pointer it helped them build a 14-point lead in the 23rd minute.
Looking at Ballincollig they played some wonderful defence that simply restricted a usual free-scoring team to scraps in the offence court.
It got worse for Eanna in the closing minutes as Ballincollig shot the lights out and entering the final quarter, they commanded a 71-50 lead.
Ballincollig’s Josh Steel drives forward under pressure from Éanna’s Jalen McAfee-Marion. Picture Chani Anderson.
Coming down the stretch the game petered out as Ballincollig stayed in total control with player-coach Ciaran O’Sullivan using some of his fringe players in this period.
Eanna did rally in the closing minutes but they were second best on this occasion as Ballincollig can get ready for a home quarter final against Super League leaders Belfast Star on Saturday, December 6.
Top scorers for Ballincollig: L Mitchell 23, L Jossell 19, J Steel 14, A O’Sullivan 14.
Eanna: M Blackwell 21, K Andabaka 10, S Jenkins 11, J Gormley 8.
BALLINCOLLIG: A O’Sullivan, J Steel, L Jossell, D O’Herlihy, A Rodriguez, C O’Sullivan, C O’Sullivan, R O’Sullivan, C Blount, L O’Sullivan, D Corkery, L Mitchell.
EANNA: C O’Sullivan, J McAfee-Marion, D Kiernan, C Dikcius, K Andabaka, S Desinica, N Lynch, S Jenkibs, M Blackwell, A Charles, J Gormley, M Christal.
Referees: Emer Buckley (Kerry), Adam Wickham (Dublin). Stephen O’Shaughnessy (Tipperary).
