Ballincollig basketballers battle from 17 points down to sweep past UCD Marian in last quarter
Ballincollig's Adrian O'Sullivan is challenged by UCD Marian's Joshua Reynolds during their Men's Super League clash at the Parochial Hall. Picture: David Keane.
Ballincollig won their second game in the Domino’s Men’s Super League at the GCU Parochial Arena on Saturday evening.
The Village, playing on the northside as MTU was unavailable, had a nightmare opening quarter. They trailed by 17 points as Marian shot the lights out within seven efforts from outside the arc. Another big issue was that their American Latrell Jossell picked up three early fouls and had to sit down.
The home side settled down in the second quarter with their big American Latavious Mitchell being a real handful inside the paint by adding 11 points to cut the gap, 39-31, at the half. The Village were superb on both sides of the floor in the third and final periods to follow up their victory over Neptune take their record to 2-2.
UCD raced in a 6-2 lead with baskets by their American pairing Joshua Reynolds and Tanner Graham before moving 11-4 up. Ballincollig were all at sea on both sides of the floor, missing some easy buckets inside the paint and coughing up a total of seven from 10 three-point attempts. It was an alarming 28-11 at the end of the opening period.
Two quick baskets by Josh Steel put a small dent in the Marian lead and when Keelan Cairns nailed a short jumper from the elbow, the Village trailed 30-17.
Ballincollig were playing a lot smarter and forcing the Dublin side into many turnovers with their ball pressure. However, a steal and a breakaway lay-up by Ronan Byrne gave Marian a 39-31 lead at the half.
The Village had the game level 41 points apiece three minutes into the second half with nice baskets by Mitchell and Adrian O’Sullivan. A floater and a pair of foul shots by Reynolds gave UCD a 47-44 lead with four minutes remaining in the period.
Frustratingly, when Ballincollig had chances to take the lead, they took some forced options. Still, they only trailed by the minimum, 55-54, going into the fourth quarter.
They went 56-55 up with a pair of foul shots by Adrian O’Sullivan and their excellent work on the defensive end was paying dividends. Having Dylan Corkery and Ronan O’Sullivan available for the first time this season gave them depth.
Coming down the stretch, Ballincollig just wore the Marian side down. Jossell made a big impact with 18 last-quarter points after sitting out for large periods.
Latavious Mitchell 20, Latrell Jossell 18, Adrian O’Sullivan 18, Josh Steel 14.
Joshua Reynolds 21, Ronan Byrne 14, Sean Fitzpatrick 13.
Adrian O’Sullivan, Ronan O’Sullivan, Josh Steel, Latrell Jossell, Diego O’Herlihy, Rory O’Flynn, Alberto Rodriguez, Ciaran O’Sullivan, Colm Blount, Dylan Corkery, Latavious Mitchell, Keelan Ciarns.
Joshua Reynolds, Jack Kehoe, Sean O’Flynn, Tom Maguire, Javier Comesana, James Connaire, Ronan Byrne, Sean Fitzpatrick, Tanner Graham, Mihael Linde, Sotiris Miltiadis, Cian Tiernan.
Maciej Nazimek (Dublin), Alex Kiernan (Dublin), Jozesf Vida (Dublin).
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