Ballincollig basketballers hold off Belfast Star in tense National Cup quarter-final
Ballincollig’s Latrell Jossell powers up the court against Belfast Star in the Men’s Super League clash at MTU. Picture: Chani Anderson.
Ballincollig were taken to the wire by a determined Belfast Star outfit, but the Cork side, helped by a stunning 25-point display from standout player Joshua Steel, booked the place in the last four of the Pat Duffy Men’s National Cup.
The Cork side dominated their opponents for long periods, but Star simply hung in and levelled the game at 79 points each with 38 seconds remaining. Ballincollig, courtesy of a Steel basket and a brace of free throws from Latrell Jossell, deservedly got over the line.
The Star American Shane Bell only took 12 seconds to make a deft move to the hoop but Adrian O’Sullivan and Dylan Corkery immediately responded with similar baskets. The hosts looked up for the challenge against the league leaders and when O’Sullivan drained his second basket, they surged into an eight-point lead, 10-2, in the third minute with Star immediately calling a time-out.
The Ballincollig defence was excellent and when O’Sullivan drained a free throw midway through the quarter, their lead was 16. The one negative for Ballincollig was the form of star American Latavious Mitchell in the quarter. The November Player of the Month wasn’t showing the same bite that we have witnessed all season.
In the closing minutes of the period, both sides shot the ball reasonably well, but Ballincollig deservedly led 32-21 after an absorbing quarter. A monstrous Latrell Jossell three-pointer gave the home side a perfect start to the second quarter.
Dylan Corkery's form has been top drawer and has proven in numerous games at both ends of the court what he gives his team.
Midway through the quarter, Ballincollig led by 18 points and with both teams using various rotations, many tips were missed in a three-minute period.
Coming up to half-time the home side couldn’t buy a basket and with Star reducing the deficit to 17 points with 31.3 seconds remaining Ballincollig called a time out. They turned the ball over and Conor Liston nailed a three for Star that saw them reduce the deficit to 46-32 at the break.
The Ballincollig stats read they made 12 of the 21 shots attempted inside the paint (53%) while outside the arc 7/20 gave them a 35% reading.
The first half display from Mitchell was disappointing as all he could muster up was a mere four points and with Star still within striking distance, the restart was going to be interesting as Ballincollig had completely dropped their intensity in the second quarter.
Consecutive Rap Buivydas baskets gave the northerners the perfect kick and suddenly it was a 10-point game. The pressure seemed to be affecting Ballincollig as their scoring had completely dried up, but a brace of Mitchell free throws restored a 12-point lead in the 24th minute.
Both teams were now cagey and a beautiful move from Josh Steel increased the Ballincollig lead to 15 points with 3.19 remaining in the quarter.
The northerners refused to wilt, showing why they'd only been beaten once in the league, and Ballincollig looked a side under pressure despite being up 64-54 entering the final quarter.
Coming down the stretch, Ballincollig were back on song and looked to be dominating but Star's incredible outside shooting took this game to the wire.
Thankfully for Ciarán O'Sullivan's side, Steel and Jossell found key baskets to survive a titanic battle.
J Steel 25, L Jossell 16, A O’Sullivan 14, L Mitchell 8.
R Buivydas 17, R Wilson 14.
A O’Sullivan, J Steel, L Jossell, D O’Herlihy, A Rodriguez, C O’Sullivan, C O’Sullivan, R O’Sullivan, C Blount, L O’Sullivan, D Corkery, L Mitchell.
M Donnelly, L Donnelly, A Quinn, C Quinn, M Richardson, J Summersgill, R Graham, C Ryan, R Buivydas, C Liston, S Bell, L Pettigrew, R J Wilson.
M Nazimek (Dublin), C White (Dublin), A Wickham (Dublin).
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