Maree have been crowned Basketball Ireland men’s division one champions for the second year in a row.
The Galway club closed out the regular season with an 81-70 win over Ulster University Elks in Oranmore
In an extremely close and competitive game, it took Maree until the fourth quarter to put some breathing space between the two sides, with momentum swinging from end to end throughout the game. Good scoring from Kenneth Hansberry and Eoin Rockall sealed the deal in the end for the Galway side, and Maree were crowned champions.
Maree now earn automatic promotion to the Basketball Ireland Men’s Super League for the 2017/18 season.
Both sides earned their spot in the final game after Maree accounted for Keane’s SuperValu Killorglin (79-57 ), while Ulster University Elks edged out BFG Neptune in a thriller, winning out 93-97 in the end.
“It feels brilliant,"said coach John Finn. "We had a really tough game, Ulster Elks are a really good team and they put it up to us.
" We were nine points down going into the fourth quarter and played really well to win the game so we’re delighted. I felt that if we could play to our ability we could win, but it wasn’t until the fourth quarter that we played the way we can play.”
Maree now play Garvey's Tralee Warriors in the Champions Cup quarter-final in Calasanctius College, Oranmore on Saturday at 7pm.
