Cork Basketball: Neptune remain in relegation trouble after home loss to St Vincent's
Neptune's Mike Hayes races away from St Vincent's Liam Kinsella during their Men's Super League clash at the Neptune Stadium. Picture: David Keane.
Energywise Ireland Neptune suffered yet another defeat in the Domino’s Men’s Super League going down to an understrength St Vincent’s side at the Neptune Stadium on Saturday.
Sadly, this defeat edged them closer to relegation with just three games to go. In truth, they were simply not good enough and looked unprepared for battle.
Both sides looked tentative in the opening exchanges before Neptune opened their account with an Eoin Nelson tip from a rebound. Indeed, in the opening three minutes, some of the shooting from both sides bordered on the ridiculous but Neptune fared a little better surging into a six-point lead.
After a sloppy two minutes for the hosts, Vincent’s exposed them with three unanswered baskets to tie the game in the sixth minute. Neptune responded as the introduction of Roy Downey helped inject more pace as they raced into a 25-16 lead with a minute remaining.
A late Liam Kinsella three-pointer helped the visitors reduce the deficit to five points, 27-22, entering the second quarter.
Both teams traded baskets with little or no defence being played with Neptune still four points ahead in the 13th minute. The game turned in the Saints' favour and a flurry of baskets coupled with Neptune’s poor shooting and passing options saw the visitors up by six.
Consecutive Eli Lenihan three-pointers tied it up as the game became a shoot-out for both sides. The Dublin side commanded an eight-point interval lead, 59-51, after a half that was a huge disappointment for the home fans.
The half-time stats for Neptune inside the paint were impressive 15/20 (75%) and they were 4/10 (40%) outside the arc.
On the restart, Nelson got in backdoor for an easy tip but Dorian Lagoeyte was murdering Neptune with his shooting beyond the arc as they raced into a 10-point lead. How Neptune continued to play zone defence beggared belief and midway through the quarter they trailed, 79-64.
A Downey three-pointer rallied Neptune and the lead was reduced to seven points entering the fourth quarter.
Conor Gilligan drained a three on the restart, only for Lenihan to reply. Vincent’s, under American coach Mike Olson, look well organised and the difference in how both teams were set up was miles apart.
The Dublin outfit saw out the game despite Neptune battling to the wire, who lacked the required class to get anything from this crucial clash.
M Hayes 31, A Gregorio 22, S Henderson 14, N Sabata 14.
L Kinsella 28, M Garnick 24, D Lagoeyte 20, J Phelan 17.
M Hayes, K O’Donoghue, S Henderson, R Downey, N Power, E Lenihan, A Heaphy, E Nelson, A Gregorio, D O’Rourke, N Sabata, J Scannell.
J Phelan, C Coombes, C Gilligan, B Ubaekwe, W Thomas, D Lagoeyte, D Ebose, A Tynan, E McCann, M Garrick, L Kinsella, A Lisewski.
Jamie Dooley (Portlaoise), Stephen O’Shaughnessy (Tipperary), Paula Gisbert (Dublin).
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