In the Nivea for Men SuperLeague, Bord Gais Neptune edged out their great rivals and reigning champions 11890 Killester by 73-72 on Sunday
Leading the way in the Southern Conference, Sunday’s clash offered Mark Scannell and his charges the opportunity to further underline their championship credentials against the side that defeated them in such dramatic circumstances last season.
In a game which was fiercely contested throughout, neither side managed to get a significant lead, the first half finishing all square at thirty nine points apiece. That trend continued in the second half, with defences coming out on top.
Neptune were in danger of surrendering the tie on team fouls, but in the dying moments American Ron Thompson underlined his class to shoot the game’s winning basket to give the home side a one point victory.
Killester had eight seconds on the clock but Jermaine Turner failed to make the crucial basket.
Scannell said “We got that bit of luck we needed. Defensively we were excellent. We had a target of scoring eighty points today and were a bit below that. Some days we can be superb in offense and weak on defence. It was the opposite against Killester. We need to figure out a way of getting it to click at both ends of the court-that’s the challenge we have to meet.”.
Darren O’Neill felt his side was a bit lethargic. “We certainly were not firing on all cylinders and missed a lot of simple lay ups. In all honesty it was a game we could have won but perhaps didn’t do enough to win. “ said O’Neill.
