Struggling Neptune basketballers slump to fourth defeat in a row
Cameron Glover, Neptune, nails a basket over Kristijan Andabaka, Eanna, at Neptune Stadium. Picture: Jim Coughlan.
Eanna mounted more pressure on winless Energywise Ireland Neptune with a comfortable win in the Domino’s Men’s Super League at the Neptune Stadium on Saturday.
The home side suffered their third consecutive loss at home after a dismal display at both ends of the court. With the exception of Cian Heaphy, no one played nowhere good enough to trouble this talented Dublin outfit.
The opening exchanges were played at a fast and furious pace with Neptune giving a debut to American Roli Ware, who replaced Zion Dobbs. Consecutive slammers from James Gormley increased the Eanna lead to 9-4 in the sixth minute.
The visitors settled and a stunning shot outside the arc from Stefan Desnica increased their lead to 10 points with 3.50 remaining before Neptune called a much-needed time-out. It was hard to believe that Neptune had only five points on the scoreboard after eight minutes and that’s with four professionals in their squad.
As was the case in previous games, coach Keith Daly made numerous substitutions to get momentum in the game but, amazingly, at the end of the quarter, Neptune had only put seven points on the board, down 25-7.
On the restart, a basket and bonus from Eanna’s American Mikal Blackwell put the home side under further pressure.
No matter what rotation Neptune put on the floor, they looked all at sea. The one shining light was Cian Heaphy, who had the bottle for the battle.
Midway through the quarter, Neptune's tally was just 15, with their professionals only chipping in with six of that.
Helped by Heaphy, they reduced the deficit to 16 points, but once again the class of Eanna resurfaced with a brace of Desnica shots outside the arc that regained a 22-point gap with 3.25 remaining to the interval. The Dublin side were scrappy in the closing minutes but they still managed to go in at the break up 48-29.
Looking at Neptune’s half-time stats, they were 6/17 (35%) inside the arc and 1/10 from three, just 10%. Another startling average is that their four professionals had only contributed 11 points in 20 minutes.
Heaphy got Neptune up and running with a floater but Eanna responded with three consecutive baskets. Former Neptune star Sean Jenkins only managed 17 minutes of action with his coach nursing him through his recent calf strain.
The game fell flat, littered with fouls, and American Cameron Glover was ejected after picking up his second technical foul for flopping while in the action of shooting.
Trailing 68-50 entering the final quarter Neptune needed a good start as Eanna were scrappy for long periods of the third quarter. Coming down the stretch Neptune’s shooting improved but they were always chasing this game.
They now head to play Limerick Celtics on Monday with a 0/4 record and in desperate need of a win.
A minute’s applause was given for the late Patsy Fitzgibbon the former Neptune/Brunell player and coach who sadly passed away last week.
E Nelson 16, R Ware 16, C Heaphy 14.
K Andabaka 25, M Blackwell 23, S Desnica 18.
K O’Donoghue, Z Dobbs, C Heaphy, N Power, E Linehan, J Scannell, S Noonan, R Ware, D O’Rourke, A Heaphy, A Heaphy, E Nelson, J Junior-Mvuezolo, P Osagie, G Adon.
C O’Sullivan, M McAfee, D Kiernan, C Dikcius, K Andabaka, S Desnica, N Lynch, S Jenkins, M Blackwell, A Charles, J Gormley, M Christal.
Linda Cassidy (Dublin), Mariusz Landos (Dublin), Pel Persson (Cork).
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