Cork Basketball: Neptune ease to victory over Killorglin
Conor O'Sullivan with possession for Energywise Ireland Neptune. Picture: Larry Cummins
NEPTUNE produced a solid display before easily disposing of Flexachem Neptune in the Men’s Super League at the Neptune Stadium on Saturday.
To be fair the Blackpool outfit were seldom troubled by their weakened Kerry opponents and the most positive aspect to come out of the game was the display given by man of the match Jordan Blount.
The Kerry side went into the game after releasing American RJ Kelly and although they hope to have his replacement in the country next week it hampered them big time on this occasion.
After a few missed opportunities Scott Angus eventually opened with a slam dunk but Chrishon Briggs responded with consecutive baskets.
Indeed the opening exchanges were a replica of their game last week with the visitors attempting wayward shots but Jordan Blount got his evening off to a good start with a three and a beautiful spin move that yielded a basket and bonus.
The home side were now on a roll and a Briggs basket forced Killorglin to call a time-out midway through the quarter when trailing 17-8.
Credit to Neptune they continued to pile the pressure on and with Conor O’Sullivan nailing consecutive three-pointers it helped them command a 35-24 lead.
Killorglin’s Michael McGinn nailed a monstrous buzzer-beater three-pointer but his side had plenty of improvement to do in order to keep Neptune at bay in the second quarter.
The second period began sloppy from both sides but a slammer from Cian Heaphy certainly had the home fans in rapture but surprisingly midway through the quarter Neptune still only commanded an 11-point advantage.
To be fair coach Colin O’Reilly could afford to give minutes to many of his fringe players and it was nice to see his Catalonian star Nil Sabata showing his best form in many weeks.
Killorglin refused to lie down despite getting outplayed for long periods in the first half but it was the Blackpool outfit that went in at the break up 54-42.
There is little doubt Neptune were the happier side at the break but no doubt they needed a good start to the third period that would finally put this game to bed.
On the restart, Neptune were soon in pole position as they increased their lead to 16 points but to be fair the standard of basketball didn’t improve in this period.
The one player that stood out for Neptune was Jordan Blount who played superbly at both ends of the floor battling for every 50-50 ball that came his way.
It was strange the way Neptune finished the quarter totally dropped their intensity as Killorglin reduced the lead to 12 points 75-63 entering the final quarter.
Credit to Neptune they responded in style and coming down the stretch they took control with Killorglin sapped of energy.
In a game of fits and starts Neptune will be happy to have secured maximum points.
S Briggs 22, J Blount 17, J Lawton 17.
K Jacks 23, L McGregor 20, S Angus 17.
R Downey, A Heaphy, C Heaphy, C O’Reilly, C Leahy, K O’Donoghue. J Lawton, J Blount, M Cooper, C O’Sullivan, C Briggs, D O’Sullivan.
J Friel, K Jacks, L McGregor, M McGinn, D Wall, J Nunez, L Tvrdic, O Flynn, L Croke, C Flynn, S Angus, K Houlihan, C Buckley, S O’Connell.
C White (Dublin), J Lavin (Dublin), E Buckley (Kerry).
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