Moycullen face a key basketball cup fixture this weekend.
Hoops from Dublin come to town in a contest which neither team can afford to lose. Tip off is at 5pm (to cater for soccer fans wanting to see the Ireland-France playoff game ) in the Kingfisher NUIG centre and the team hopes for a large home crowd to help push them into a cup quarter final.
It will not be easy. Hoops picked up their first win of the season at the weekend, defeating double holders, Blue Demons in Cork, while Moycullen slipped to their sixth consecutive defeat in the Superleague against DCU Saints by 81 - 56.
:Last weekend Moycullen showed flashes of the ability required to compete in the league but they failed to sustain the effort over the course of the contest. When DCU upped the pressure in the third quarter, Moycullen had no answer, and in the end the 25 points which separated the teams was probably a fair reflection of the game.
Moycullen kept pace in a frenetic opening quarterpace thanks to Nate Fritsch who has replaced Simon Harris in the Moycullen lineup and threes from Mike Dowd and John Cunningham. When Puff Summers came in for Fritsch, he immediately knocked down a jump shot as the teams went score for score, and a late James Loughnane three left the minimum between the teams, 19-18 to Saints.
Howevcer the Saints took control in the second quarter. Their superb defence saw Moycullen thrown totally out of rhythmm while at the other end, Kev Lacey connected on 10 points. Limited to two threes from Loughnane and Eoghan Maxwell and a single basket from Nate Fritsch, Moycullen fell 10 points behind, 36-26.
The Saints continued to dominate, with their full court pressure generating a series of turnovers, while their strength on the bench enabled them to keep up the relentless pressure. By the end of the quarter the Saints were out of sight, leading 61-35.
Moycullen did fight back in the last, but the improved effort was only enough to edge Saints by one point in the quarter.
Moycullen: James Loughnane (12 ), Nate Fritsch (11 ), Cian Nihill (9 ), John Cunningham (5 ), Mindaugus Kurcenkovas (5 ), Puff Summers (4 ), Eoghan Maxwell (3 ), Nollaig Cunningham (3 ), Michael Dowd (3 ), Dylan Cunningham (1 ), James O’Brien, James Brophy. Coach: Enda Byrt
