Maree recorded another victory in the National League, overcoming AOL Broadband Waterford before a large crowd in Oranmore on Saturday.
The Oranmore-Maree newcomers led throughout, although they were never quite able to put the visitors away,despite five first-half threes from Liam Conroy. They were forced to hold their nerve through a torrid last quarter to record a win in their first National League encounter with Waterford.
Con Crowley, Colm O’Hagan, George Rahmani and Eddie Forde put in shifts of constant pressure on the ball, right out to the half-way line. At the back, Sarunas Zuirblinskas’ defence continues to improve, and with Linas Mitkus, and David and Ken Hansberry handled most of the threat in the paint. On the back of three Liam Conroy threes, six points from Mitkus and four points from Zuirblinskas, Maree took a slender 22-20 lead at the end of the first quarter. Although limited to 17 second-quarter points, including nine more from Conroy, Maree restricted Waterford to just 10 to stretch their lead to 39-30 at the half.
After stalemate in the third quarter, Waterford reduced the lead to just four, but after Darren Callanan got a captain’s basket after pulling down an offensive rebound, David Hansberry chipped in with five, and Conroy’s two free throws finished off the home scoring to secure a second league victory.
Maree: Con Crowley (1 ), Colm O’Hagan (4 ), Ciarán Harte, Eddie Forde, Darren Callanan (7 ), George Rahmani, Liam Conroy (20 ), Conor Graham (inj ), David Hansberry (6 ), Sarunas Zuirblinskas (14 ), Ken Hansberry (2 ), Linas Mitkus (22 ).
