UCC Demons crash to another defeat at home this time to Belfast Star

UCC Demons 74 

Belfast Star 85 

A total third quarter collapse from UCC Demons helped Belfast Star see off UCC Demons in the Men’s Super League at the Mardyke Arena on Sunday.

Demons had the better of the first half but a dreadful 10 minutes after the break that saw them outscored 32-9 in the third that proved very costly for them.

Asanti Price opened up Demons scoring with a deft jumper in the second minute before Rap Buiyvdas brought the sides on parity a minute later.

The game was played a ferocious pace and Buiyvdas drained a long range three pointer to edge the northerners ahead before Tillman responded with a similar basket.

Price looked to be on his shooting game and when he drained a three followed by a similar Lehane shot with Demons leading 19-12 in the seventh minute.

In the closing minutes the overall play was scrappy but with two minutes remaining Demons still commanded a 20-12 lead.

The home team were taking their opportunities better and entering the second quarter they surged into an 11- point lead 27-16.

Demons introduced bosman David Rocha in the opening quarter and he looked to be struggling in defence and also in the offence court.

Indeed, in the opening three minutes they had only amassed two points with some of their shooting options bordering on the ridiculous.

Star to their credit kept battling away and with Demons allowing them easy tips they got to within of two points 33-31 with four minutes remaining to the interval.

The outside shooting of Robert Graham was murdering Demons and surprisingly they opted to play zone defence for a period that allowed the visitors too many clear looks.

Luckily for Demons Star began playing of their worst basketball of the half and when Dave Lehane drained a brace of free throws with 20 seconds remaining their lead increased to nine points.

The inept zone defence came back to haunt Demons on the buzzer when Conor Quinn drained a three- pointer unchallenged it reduced the deficit to six points at the break 43-37.

On the restart Shane Bell got an easy unchallenged lay-up with the same player following with a similar basket.

The Star scoring avalanche continued and when Aidan Quinn nailed a three- pointer they edged into a 52-50 lead.

The home team were now in disarray struggling big time at both ends of the court and with three minutes remaining they trailed by nine points 61-52.

The bottom line is that they were was little or no structure on court for Demons and with their rotations questionable the game was running away from them.

Tillman was nowhere to be seen on court for the closing four minutes of this quarter and with Demons in a total meltdown having your most influential American sitting down was a recipe for disaster.

The clock continued to tick down, and Graham finished with a stunning three pointer it gave Star a comfortable 13 point lead 69-46.

For some strange reason Tillman continued to sit out and Demons basically looked a shambles with the exception of Dave Lehane who played his heart out for the team.

Midway through the quarter Demons reduced the lead to nine points with Star calling a time out to steady the ship.

In the closing minutes Star were always in control as Demons went down to a tame defeat with a derby game against Energywise Ireland Neptune looming on Friday.

In the Women’s Super League, Gurranabraher Credit Union Brunell defeated Killester 80-54 at the GCU Arena with Katherine Vaile (20) and Edel Thornton leading their scoring.

Career Decisions UCC Glanmire have rescheduled their Women’s Super League game against Brunell to Upper Glanmire on Thursday (7.45).

Scorers for UCC Demons: A Price 25, D Lehane 15, T Fam 11.

Belfast Star: R Buivydas 25, J Green 18, A Quinn 13.

UCC Demons: J Hanigan, J Beckom, B Horgan, D Cuff, J O’Leary, D Lehane, S Hannigan, L Sutton, E Tillman, T Fam, A Price, D Rocha.

Belfast Star: P A Adedeji, A Quinn, C Quinn, M Richardson, R Graham, R Buivydas, L O’Neill, C Liston, S Bell, L Pettigrew, J Green.

Referees: Emma Perry (Dublin), Lynda Cassidy (Dublin), Marius Landos (Portlaoise).