Cork Basketball: Disjointed Neptune blown away by brilliant Belfast Star
Eoin Nelson, Neptune, rises above RJ Wilson, Belfast Star, in Saturday's Super League game. Picture: Jim Coughlan.
Basketball at its best from Belfast Star as they eased their way to a comfortable win over Energywise Ireland Neptune in the Domino’s Super League at the Neptune Stadium on Saturday.
Not a great spectacle for the home fans because, in truth, their side were blown out in the opening quarter and they were basically chasing their opponents for the remainder of the game.
Playing in front of their home fans in their impressively renovated stadium, Neptune were expected to give a bold showing but they failed miserably in many departments. The northerners were quickest out of the blocks with RJ Wilson banking a shot just 15 seconds into the game that was followed by a Shane Bell basket.
The Neptune defence was struggling as Conor Quinn nailed consecutive three pointers and with the home side trailing 16-3 in the fourth minute coach Keith Daly eventually called a much-needed time out. It got worse for Neptune on the restart as their defence was torn to shreds by Star’s scoring avalanche and with four minutes remaining they trailed by 19 points.
Gradually, Neptune began showing more resilience and the introduction of Cian Heaphy gave them the required spark.
Star coach Adrian Fulton made a few changes that halted their dominance and with a minute remaining the lead was reduced to 11 points. They had the final say with a late Conor Ryan basket giving them a 13-point 28-15 cushion entering the second quarter.
On the restart, the visitors had extended their lead to 18 points following a Rap Buivydas basket.
A time out by the home team with 2.26 remaining to the interval saw them trail 53-30 lead and they were fortunate that Adam Heaphy nailed a buzzer beater three-pointer that cut the deficit to 19 at the interval: 55-36.
The half-time stats made for interesting reading with Star having 80% inside the arc 18/23 and 31% outside it 5/16 with Neptune chipping in with 40% inside the arc 10/25 and 4/8 outside it. The hosts clearly weren't getting enough shots off but Star's defence had been stringent.
They returned to action with a stunning Aidan Quinn three-pointer. Midway through the quarter, they were 21 ahead but the game was now looking the equivalent of a scrimmage with the home side having no structure at either end of the floor.
It must be sad that this Star look very well-drilled. Entering the fourth quarter, they were leading by 29, 86-57.
Coming down the stretch Star stayed in control and despite starting the quarter without any professionals on court, they still had too much for this disjointed Neptune side.
The sad reality is that at the end of their home game next weekend against Ballincollig, one of the Cork sides will have a 0/3 record following Ballincollig’s defeat to St Vincent’s.
E Nelson 12, C Heaphy 12, C Glover 11.
R Buivydas 24, C Liston 21, M Richardson 17, c Quinn 15.
K O’Donoghue, Z Dobbs, C Heaphy, N Power, E Linehan, J Scannell, S Noonan, C Glover, D O’Rourke, A Heaphy, A Heaphy, E Nelson, J Junior-Mvuezolo, P Osagie.
A Quinn, C Quinn, M Richardson, J Summersgill, R J Graham, S Bell, C Liston, M Burns, R Buivydlas, R Wilson, L Pettigrew.
Lynda Cassidy (Dublin), Peter James Coughlan (Cork), Sean Butterly (Drogheda).
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