Emporium Cork Basketball 87 Griffith College Templeogue 75 

EMPORIUM Cork Basketball left it late to secure maximum Men’s Super League points against Templeogue after a low-key clash at Ballincollig Community School on Saturday.

Probably the disappointment of losing their cup semi-final last weekend affected the Ballincollig outfit with American John Dawson having a poor day at the office chipping in with just 10 points in 30 minutes of action.

It only took 10 seconds for the visitors to edge ahead courtesy of a Luke Thompson three-pointer that was answered by a Ciaran O’Sullivan lay-up.

Gradually Ballincollig began getting to grips although they were struggling in the offence court missing a number of easy scoring opportunities.

The Dublin side courtesy of a second Thompson three-pointer edged into a 9-6 lead in the third minute but the introduction of Spanish star Pau Cami Galera saw him shoot a dagger outside the paint.

The overall play was scrappy with both teams making basic errors but Templeogue had their noses in front 19-18 with 1.31 remaining in the opening period.

It took an impressive buzzer-beater from Jose Jimenez Gonzalez to restore Ballincollig’s lead as they led by the minimum entering the second quarter.

The trend of the game didn’t change with both sides giving up easy baskets and New Zealander Francis Mulvihill surged the visitors ahead in the 13th minute with a stunning three.

For long periods of this quarter, the game was equivalent to a scrimmage as the intensity was low but with Thompson continuing to hit crucial shots the sides were tied at 31 points each with three minutes remaining to the interval.

The most exciting period came when Galera nailed consecutive threes that had the home crowd in rapture.

In the closing minutes, Ballincollig courtesy of careless Templeogue turnovers got on top and after a disappointing half went in at the break leading 44-40.

To be fair Ballincollig improved in the third quarter but up to midway through this period the game was very much in the balance luckily Galera and Gonzalez had a good period and they took a 10-point lead into the final quarter.

Coming down the stretch Ballincollig looked dominant in the opening six minutes but suddenly they hit a wall and the deficit was reduced to four points with three minutes remaining.

Luckily the home side responded to the wake-up call and with Adrian O’Sullivan producing a crucial three-pointer they finally saw off the resilience of the battling Templeogue side.

Top scorers for Emporium Cork Basketball: J Jimenez Gonzalez 23, P Cami Galera 17, K Cairns 14, J Dawson 10.

Griffith College Templeogue: L Thompson 26, F Mulvihill 15, J Gormley 11, N Randolph 11.

EMPORIUM: C O’Sullivan, R O’Sullivan, A O’Sullivan, K Cairns, D Corkery, H Murphy A O’Connor, J Dawson, S O’Flynn, P Cami Galera, C Blount, L O’Sullivan, P Lucey.

TEMPLEOGUE: F Mulvihill, K Arcilla, E Melini, D Carberry, C McGrail, L Thompson, A Tighe, J Fazande, D Murray, J Gormley, N Randolph.

Referees: E Immers (Dublin), S O’Shaughnessy (Tipperary), L Aherne (Limerick).