UCC Demons bounce back with comfortable win over St Vincent's
UCC Demons players celebrate Asanti Price's slam dunk against St Vincent's. Picture: Eddie O'Hare
UCC Demons got back to winning ways in the Domino’s Men’s Super League when overcoming basement side St Vincent’s in a dour clash at the Mardyke Arena on Monday.
Demons with excelling had enough in the locker to seal the points against a side that will do well to avoid relegation this season.
Demons only took five seconds to open their scoring courtesy of a James Hannigan lay-up but the former Demons bosman Kingsley Nwagboso tying it up on the next possession.
It was evident Demons defence wasn’t functioning in the opening minutes with Vincent’s players getting numerous clear looks.
Just like the defeat at Neptune Demons coaching staff are slow to make changes in defence when teams are hurting them with outside shooting.
Nwagboso was killing them inside and with the home side playing poorly at both ends of the court they eventually called a time out with 4.30 remaining and trailing 23-18.
Consecutive baskets proved the answer for Demons on the restart and a James Beckom free throw tied the game at 25 points each with 2.33 remaining.
In fairness at times this game was equivalent to a scrimmage and at the end of the quarter Vincent’s led 30-29 and for Demons to be giving up that number of points against the basement side shows how badly they were set up defensively.
Beckom did get a neat tip on the restart and Tillman followed up with a similar basket but almost immediately they turned the ball over that has been the story of their season.
The pace of the game slowed considerably but a huge Daryl Cuff three-pointer increased Demons lead to eight points with 6.24 remaining to the interval with the visitors opting for a time out.
We were then treated to a wonderful passage of play when a fast break and an interchange of passing ended with Price producing a stunning slammer.
The overall standard of basketball from both sides was pretty poor but Demons still had a six-point lead entering the final minute of half.
To be fair looking at Demons only two players looked to be playing any sort of defence as Price and Beckom worked their socks off with the rest of the squad going through the motions.
In the last possession, Beckom showed his class with a deft baseline jumper that ensured his team went in at the break commanding a 10-point lead 51-41.
On the restart Demons' scrappy play continued until Lehane after a couple of poor turnovers banked a shot but they looked to be lacking ideas at both ends of the court.
The biggest worry for Demons was the form of Tillman, whose body language suggested he wasn’t a happy camper on court as was contributing very littlem, particularly in the offence court with just five points.
Luckily Vincent’s are a moderate side and entering the final quarter Demons had a 15-point, 70-55 cushion.
Tillman who was rightfully replaced in the 25th minute and didn’t appear for the restart but with the Dublin side offering little they could afford to use different rotations.
Coming down the stretch the game petered out as Demons secured this win without too much fuss.
A Price 25, T Fam 20, D Lehane 13, J Hannigan 11.
A Mullally 23, S Stone 18, K Nwagbosa 13.
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.
J Kijak, S Stone, J Phelan, C Gilligan, S Moran, E McCann, D Lagoeyte, D Ebose, A Mullally, K Nwagboso, L Slim.
Jamie Dooley (Portlaoise), Emer Buckley (Killarney), Carolyn O’Mahony (Tralee).
In the Women’s Super League, there was disappointment for two Cork sides Gurranabraher Credit Union Brunell and Career Decisions UCC Glanmire.
Brunell hosted St Paul’s Kilarney at the GCU Arena and came off second best going down 92-76. The difference between the sides was the contributions from St Paul’s professionals with Angelina Robles (36), Maisie Burnham (27) and Paula Reus (14) tallying 77 of their 92 points.
UCC Glanmire coach Mark Scannell strengthened his team with the signing of French Bosman Inis Gnahore but consecutive defeats to Brunell and on Monday to Waterford Wildcats 94-58 made it a difficult long weekend for the Cork club.
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