New Irish senior men's captain Kyle Hosford leads the way as UCC Demons beat Portlaoise in style

UCC Demons 95 

Portlaoise Panthers 77 

UCC DEMONS unbeaten record in the Men’s Division One League remained intact following a comfortable win over Portlaoise Panthers at the Mardyke Arena on Sunday afternoon.

Demons were made battle against their fired up opponents as coach Danny O’Mahony praised his troops.

“It was physical game but we got through it okay and now we must wait to see if we will be travelling to play them in the cup as they play Fr Mathew’s on Friday,” said Danny O’Mahony.

It was a great day for the Sunday's Well club when their star player Kyle Hosford was named captain of the Irish Senior Men’s side for the forthcoming Euro Basket championship games.

Hosford was awesome finishing with a game high 29 points as his coach paid tribute to his joint captain and assistant coach.

“Kyle has been brilliant all year with the young guys in our squad and his attitude is helping us in all aspects on court is just reward in him getting named captain of his country at the highest level,” added O’Mahony.

In the opening quarter Demons shot the ball well with Hosford driving his team forward that saw them take a six point lead midway through this period.

The former Templeogue player Luke Thompson was also shooting the ball with precision but it was Demons who finished the quarter in style and with Mathew McCarthy nailing consecutive three pointers they led 26-17 entering the second quarter.

Once again the class of Hosford broke the hearts of the midlanders in the second quarter as he nailed four outside the arc that increased their lead to 20 points.

Credit to Portlaoise they battled back to reduce the lead to 14 points at the break but once again Demons found a new lease of life in the third to command a 25 point lead 85-60 heading into the final quarter.

Coming down the stretch Demons used many fringe players and although the deficit was reduced to 17 points the home side never looked likely to relinquish control.

Next up for Demons is a cup quarter final on the weekend December 4-5 where new signing Toby Christensen should strengthen their squad for the closing months of the season.

Scorers for UCC Demons: K Hosford 29, M McCarthy 16, S Manojovic 10.

Portlaoise Panthers: N Larkins 26, L Thompson 20, S Condon 10.

UCC Demons: S Manovic, S Carney, R Murphy, K Hosford, D Lehane, T Thiam Fam, K Hosford, M McCarthy, C Looney, C Ryan, K Moynihan.

Portlaoise Panthers: N Larkins, D Dunne, C Byrne, G Morrison, S Condon, K Burke, M Thompson, L Kinsella, L Thompson, I Lynch.

Referees: A Cleary (Dublin), G Daly (Cork).