UCC Demons see off UCD Marian in overtime Christmas cracker at Mardyke Arena

UCC Demons 110 UCD Marian 105 (after overtime) 

UCC Demons produced a miraculous second-half recovery before overcoming UCD Marian in a thrilling Men’s Super League clash at the Mardyke Arena on Sunday.

Demons can thank the contributions of Americans Pat Robinson (35) and Elijah Tillman (33) for digging them out of this enthralling game.

The visitors caught Demons napping in their opening possession with Eoin Nelson banking a shot before Patrick Robinson replied with a brace of free throws. Demons surprisingly were playing zone defence and the UCD American Jonathon Jean punished them with a couple of neat jumpers.

The intensity was incredible with both sides playing at a very high tempo but Demons defence was slack in stopping UCD from scoring easy baskets inside the arc. The only negative for UCD was their fouling as they had tallied 11 by the eighth minute.

Jean continued to hurt Demons and after an exhilarating period of basketball, the teams were tied at 28-28 entering the second quarter.

The pace didn’t dip as the visitors kept Demons on their toes and careless play from Robinson saw him turn over the ball in the 14th minute that helped UCD Marian edge into a three-point lead. Demons continued to be sluggish in defence as Jean punished them at will with their defence all at sea for the majority of this period.

Another problem for Demons in this period was their inability to get quality ball into Tillman and with their outside shots not dropping they were also struggling on the scoring front.

In the closing minute and a half Demons went into meltdown turning the ball at crucial times and with the visitors punishing them at will it was no surprise they trailed 51-42.

Demons' half-time stats didn’t make pretty reading as they only made four shots out of the 11 attempted outside the arc giving them a 36% average.

On the restart, a three-pointer from James Connaire gave the visitors the perfect start as Demons looked on the ropes. Tillman drifted out of the game as he was getting man-marked by the taller Eoin Nelson and reverted to taking careless outside shots.

Credit to the Dublin outfit they played a lot smarter basketball than Demons in this period and with two minutes remaining they had established a 14-point lead with Lovre Tvydic impressing.

Suddenly Demons responded to the wake-up call and a basket from Tillman was bettered by Toby Christensen with a three-pointer and suddenly the deficit was reduced to six points with 1.23 remaining in this period.

In fairness Demons now had their tails up and a late three-pointer helped Demons trim the gap to the minimum 67-68 entering the fourth quarter.

The game was still in the balance with four minutes remaining but Demons coach Danny O’Mahony rightfully called a time-out.

It must be said the closing minutes were frantic and just when Demons looked to be snatching it Jean produced a buzzer-beater three-pointer that forced overtime.

In the end Demons just about shaded as the brilliance of Robinson in overtime finally saw off the resilient Dubliners.

A minute’s silence was observed for the late Tom Singleton a club sponsor who sadly passed away before the game.

Top scorers for UCC Demons: P Robinson 35, E Tillman 33, T Christensen 17.

UCD Marian: L Tvydic 27, J Jean 27, T Graham 20.

UCC DEMONS: S Hannigan, B Murphy, T Christensen, P Robinson, J Hannigan, D Lehane, E Spudis, K Hosford, C Looney, D Cuff, E Tillman.

UCD MARIAN: C O’Reilly, C Catany-Bigas, O Mendez-Blanco, L Tvydic, J Connaire, R Byrne, T Graham, M McGrath, S Solbes-Sanchez, E Nelson, C Tiernan, J Jean.

Referees: M Landos (Dublin), M Malysko (Portlaoise), T McSweeney (Waterford).