SSE Airtricity Moycullen resume their Basketball Ireland National League campaign this weekend and 'every game left is like a cup final'according to stalwart Nollaig Cunningham.
The club are three points ahead with three games left to go and second placed Maree lie in wait on February 28th. Cunningham says they can't afford to look past a difficult trip to C&S Blue Demons this Sunday - Demons are the side who beat them in the Presidents' National Cup Final.
"You'll hear a lot of clichés over the next couple of weeks but we really are just trying to take it one game at a time," says the player and assistant coach. "We know from the cup final that we can do a good job on defence but there are things on offence we'll need to rectify.
There's not much point focusing too much on them because they have a number of different players who can step up. They're smart and wily and some of them have been playing at a high level over 10 and 15 years so they can handle whatever we throw at them."
Maree went down to Cork and beat Demons last Sunday. John Finn's side have averaged 90 points a game since the start of 2015 and were in free scoring mood once again at the Mardyke. Padraig Burke and Kenneth Hansberry both broke the 20 point mark while youngster Eoin Rockall was also in double digits. They sit out this round on a bye-week.
JM&L Auctioneers Titans play their last designated home game of the season this Saturday. Jordi Juste's men have arrested their form after a run of three defeats saw them slip down the table and last Saturday's win over Fr. Mathews put them back in the top half of the table.
Jonathan Pesaitis showed why he was a central part of The Bish's run to next week's All Ireland Schools League final with another assuredperformance at National League level. Captain Paulius Peldzius had 13 points including a couple of sweet three-pointers while Toms Fabriciuss shared the game high with Pesaitis on 16 points.
NUIG Mystics play their last regulation game of the Women's Division One season this weekend. It's away in Castleisland to St. Mary's on the back of an impressive win over Tralee Imperials in Claregalway. Three-point specialist Nicole Krusen led the way to a win which was a major boost to play-off hopes but it all comes down to the wire this weekend. A win in Kerry should seal it.
