Titans travel to the capital for a game against Malahide with serious play-off implications.
Tip-off is 6.30pm at Malahide Community School. The Galway club is in the midst of a crucial four-game run in which they must win every fixture.
Titans defeated Portlaoise Panthers in Ballinfoyle in their first of four massive outings on Sunday afternoon. It was a must-win game for both teams to keep their play-off dreams alive. Titans had to win by nine points and still win their next three games against Malahide, Templeogue and Tipp Talons. This pressure was on the back of an away loss to Moycullen the night before.
From the outset, Titans set out their stall, pounding the ball inside and finishing around the hoop through Fortune Igbokwe, Declan Gbinigie and Umar Rashid. Portlaoise switched to a zone to try to contain the Titan big guns. But Joseph Coughlan, Matthew Sweeney and Ben Powell (who had a massive 14-point game ) all started raining threes in their newfound space. The first quarter ended 30-17 in favour of Titans.
In the second quarter, Titans stingy defence made it difficult for the visitors and with Igbokwe, D Gbinigie and Viktor Tashev pulling down rebounds (61 for the game ), allowing Titan's transition game to kick in. They were finishing strong, through D Gbinigie, Coughlan, Sweeney and Rashid. The Titans led at half-time 58-30.
In the third quarter, D Gbinigie, Nathan Gbinigie and Tashev were rampant. On top of that, Stephan Owed and Powell's work rate on defence was infectious, making Titans hard to beat. The third ended 85-44.
Titans ran out emphatic 105-59 winners. Igbokwe scored 10 points with 12 rebounds while Rashid top scored with 30 points. But the standout performer was D Gbinigie with not only 22 points but 13 rebounds. Coughlan and Sweeney finished with eight points each, Ben Powell had 14 with seven rebounds. Tashev had 11 points.
Titans have made their first step towards a play-off place and head to Malahide aiming to produce more of the offensive quality that put Portlaoise to the sword.
