Basketball Ireland Men’s Superleague
Sunday, 7th January 2018
St Vincent’s Glasnevin
DCU Saints 85 (37)
Moycullen 90 (44)

Moycullen Basketball Club closed a superb weekend just gone when the Superleague side bested DCU Saints in Dublin for a second consecutive road win in Ireland’s top league.

 

After the triumph of the U20s on Saturday, it was the turn of the Superleague side on Sunday (a side that contained four of the squad that won the club’s first U20 title in 2008) when they took to the road once more to face DCU Saints in Glasnevin.

A good start to proceedings had the visitors out to an early 10-point lead.

While the margin at times stretched to as much as 14, the majority of the contest saw only single digits between two evenly talented teams.

Saints found much of their success through the interior scores of their twin towers of Martines Provisors and Dee Proby, Moycullen equally found baskets through exploiting Saints’ lack of mobility with Brandon McGuire and Paul Freeman in particular benefiting.

Much like the previous weekend’s road victory over UCC Demons, Moycullen never relinquished their early lead and some excellent guard play from Patrick Lyons and James Loughnane always looked like guiding the westerners to victory.

There were some nervy moments as a late Saints run saw them cut the deficit to two points with under two minutes remaining.

Big baskets from Lyons, Loughnane and McGuire in the closing possessions however was enough to see Moycullen pick up a win to start 2018 and move into a tie for sixth place in the Superleague table.

Next week, they welcome Tralee Warriors and Kieran Donaghy to NUIG’s Kingfisher Arena at 7pm on Saturday (13th of January) for a chance for revenge of the 3-point buzzer beater defeat they suffered in the Kingdom back in October.  With the Top 6 teams in the league reaching the end of season playoffs, every game is vital for 6th placed Moycullen as they chase a first time visit to the playoffs.  We’d encourage all club members and indeed all sports fans from within and outside the parish to turn up and cheer the team on.

Moycullen Scorers (Superleague): Brandon McGuire 31, Paul Freeman 24, Patrick Lyons 13, James Loughnane 9, Stephen Tummon 4, Kyle Cunningham 3, Cian Nihill 2, Joseph Tummon 2, Dylan Cunningham 2, James Lyons, Paul Kelly