Ballincollig basketballers season hanging by a thread after awful home loss to St Vincent's
Jake Wolfe in action for Ballincollig. Picture: Larry Cummins
Ballincollig put in their worst performance of the season when they were well beaten by Bright St Vincents in a Domino’s Men’s Super League encounter at the MTU Arena.
This loss means, with 11 wins, they'll probably need to beat Templeogue away next weekend to even make the playoffs. Their performance on both sides of the floor was very disappointing in the opening two quarters as they trailed by seven points at the half.
All season they have been excellent defensively but they were disjointed, especially in the second quarter. They were also very predictable offensively, which Vincent's took full advantage of with their big 3-2 zone defence.
Another big issue in the first 20 minutes was the lack of scoring from their two American players, Quashawn Lane only registering five and Jake Wolf two.
It was a struggle in the second half too but take nothing away from Vincents, as they battled for every possession to come away with a vital victory.
Ballincollig raced into an 8-0 lead with an effort beyond the arc from Ciaran O’Sullivan, an offensive tip by Joshua Tomaic and a power mover to the basket by Sean McManus. Vincent's reduced the deficit, 17-13, with a big three from Charlie Coombes and a lay-up by Isiah Gaiter but another big three from Ciaran O’Sullivan followed by a basket from Ronan O’Sullivan gave the home side a 26-21 lead.
The Dublin side made a bright start to the second quarter with two short jumpers from Giorgi Tvalabeishvili and when Jaron Thames made a stunning move to the basket they led for the first time, 29-28. The Village regained the lead, 35-31, with a Luke O’Sullivan three and a short jumper.
Vincent’s finished the quarter punishing the Ballincollig defence with big three-pointers from Coombes and Eoin McCann: 52-45.
Tvalabeishvili gave Vincent's the perfect start to the third quarter with two buckets inside the paint followed by a pair of foul shots by McCann to lead 59-45 forcing the hosts into a timeout. The body language was alarming as they were out-worked on their own boards and trailed 69-47 midway through the quarter.
They did rally with efforts beyond the arc from Wolfe and Lane to trail 74-57, however, foul shots by Dorian Lagoeyte and a huge three Gaiter gave the visitors a 80-57 lead entering the final period.
McManus gave Ballincollig a glimmer of hope with a basket through traffic but two poor turnovers gave Vincent's two breakaway lay-ups: 84-59.
Vincent's superbly managed the remainder of the game and richly deserved their victory that could see them keep their Super League status for next season.
Joshua Tomaic 18, Jake Wolfe 14, Sean McManus 12.
Isiah Gaiter 23, Giorgi Tvalabeishvili 16, Jaron Thames 14.
Joshua Tomaic, Jake Wolfe, Diego O’Herlihy, Sean O’Flynn, Sean McManus, Ciaran O’Sullivan, Ronan O’Sullivan, Luke O’Sullivan, Quashawn Lane, Keelan Cairns, Brendan Douanla.
Guillermo Romero, Joshua Marvesley, Charlie Coombes, Jordan Bakeeba-Nsimba, Eoin McCann, Dorian Lagoeyte, Isiah Gaiter, Daniel Heaney, Giohi Tvalabeishvili, Jaron Thames.
Mariusz Landos (Portaoise), Jacek Manysko (Portaoise), Carolyn O’Mahony (Kerry).
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