When leading Demons scorer Jeremiah Moore helped his side into a 28-17 lead, the Mardyke Arena would soon be hushed into silence midway through the second quarter.
After blitzing through the competition in their opening three games of the Superleague season, UG Maree were brought down to earth with a 95-91 away loss to UCC Demons on Sunday afternoon.
Sloppy turnovers, missed open shots and multiple defensive breakdowns - particularly from three-point range - saw Maree quickly trail 18-7.
However, Galway had galloped forward on a 18-9 run, powered by an aggressive and inspired Rodrigo Gomez display. The Spanish small forward recorded 18 points in the quarter, including four from the foul line, as Charlie Crowley's men fought well to restore parity and were ahead at one stage.
Joe-Junior Mvuezolo was a constant threat for the visitors, but a Kyle Hosford three saw UCC take a slender one-point lead into half-time.
Early in the second-half, the two sides traded baskets, but the visitors' inability to consistently make their deep-range shots count proved decisive.
Moore was quiet in stages, but devastating in others, finishing with a game-high 31 points. He and Maree's leading scorer Jarett Haines (26 ) were the pace-setters for their respective ball clubs, though the visitors' rally came too late for comfort.
Hosford made consecutive threes, while his teammates were alert at the rim to snuff out Gomez's incisive passes in-and-around the paint. Mvuezolo drilled three triples - half of Galway's tally from deep, but Thiam seemed determined to trade baskets with whoever would dare score for Maree.
He finished with 17 points, but it felt like much more than that on a day Galway took too long to construct their attacks without reward, and frequently played catch-up on the scoreboard.
Nonetheless, the game was still up for grabs at 78-70 with nine minutes left. Mvuezolo hit a trio of difficult shots - all two-pointers - while the hosts fired back down the other end. Demons' Moore responded with a tough finish of his own, up-and-over through traffic to give them a five-point buffer, before the Londoner and Haines both hit clutch shots, cutting the lead to one.
Haines' brought the two sides level at 88-apiece, but Moore popped up with his second triple of the game before James Hannigan scored after a clever pass by their leading scorer.
At 94-88 and with time running out, Cathal Finn made it a three-point game again with his second from deep. However, when Demons secured another defensive stop, they wound down the clock to settle a sweet victory.
League leaders Neptune await Galway at home next Saturday.
Scorers for University of Galway Maree: Jarett Haines 26, Rodrigo Gomez, Joe-Junior Mvuezolo 24, Cathal Finn 6, John Burke 4, Zvonimir Cutuk 4, Zach Light 3.
Scorers for UCC Blue Demons: Jeremiah Moore 31, Tala Fam Thiam 17, Kyle Hosford 16, James Hannigan 9, Carlton Cuff 8, Kingsley Nwagboso 7, VadYm Bykov 3, Stevan Manojlovic 2, Scott Hannigan 2.
University of Galway Maree: Eoin Rockall, Rodrigo Gomez, Jarett Haines, Joe-Junior Mvuezolo, Zvonimir Cutuk. Bench: Cathal Finn, Ben Burke, John Burke, Zach Light, Paul Freeman, Matthew Sweeney, Stephen Commins.
UCC Blue Demons: Kyle Hosford, James Hannigan, Tala Fam Thiam, Kingsley Nwagboso, Jeremiah Moore.Bench: Carlton Cuff, VadYm Bykov, Stevan Manojlovic, Scott Hannigan, Ryan Murphy, Jack O'Leary, David Lehane.
