SSE Airtricity Moycullen men's basketball are on the road this weekend as they head to Limerick to play Radisson BLU UL Eagles on Saturday (7.30pm ).
Moycullen will have high hopes of grabbing another win in what has been a successful season, and having faced the two leading lights of Super League basketball over the past two weekends, they now face the league's bottom side as the season nears its end.
League-leading Templeogue left a packed NUI Galway Kingfisher gym last weekend with an 84-70 win, despite Moycullen looking sharp in the early exchanges.
Patrick Lyons and James Loughnane put in solid shifts, harassing Templeogue’s guards on the defensive end, while also carrying some of the scoring load, and three-pointers from Loughnane, Lyons and Philip Lawrence-Ricks helped Moycullen to an ideal start.
Templeogue, through Superleague veteran Jason Killeen, picked up some easy baskets, while their American player Mike Bonaparte converted from long-distance to edge themselves in front 22-19.
Moycullen stayed aggressive for most of the second period with Loughnane, Lyons and Dylan Cunningham looking for the fastbreak at every available opportunity. Midway through the second Templeogue upped their defensive intensity, and although Moycullen’s offence began to slow, they stayed within reaching distance of the visitors, reducing the lead to nine by half-time.
The Galway men continued to shoot well from beyond the arc in the third and after an 8-0 scoring run from Loughnane, Moycullen had reduced the Templeogue lead to two once again.
Despite some exceptional defence from Sean Candon and Rory Gilson, Templeogue’s two American players, Bonaparte and Puff Summers, pushing their lead back up to five, and despite an early offensive from the hosts in the fourth, Killeen's physicality and size proved too much for Moycullen’s post-players. He finished with 28 points in total as secured the victory by 84-70.
SSE Airtricity Moycullen: James Loughnane, Patrick Lyons, Philip Lawrence-Ricks, Paul Freeman, Dylan Cunningham, Joseph Tummon, Sean Candon, Rory Gilson, John Hackett, Ladmy Sila. Coach: John Cunningham, asst coach: Gerald Lyons.
