Moycullen Basketball must face Killester again in the Jes on Saturday (7pm ) after crashing out to the Clontarf outfit in National Cup last weekend.
Killester were in red hot form on Saturday when they powered to their third consecutive semi-final appearance, winning by 82-61, and Moycullen must now regroup quickly in a return to league action.
Moycullen will need a better performance, but having beaten them 66-61 in Dublin in September, they know what they will need to do.
It was, however, a different story last weekend. Killester, led by 26 points from American-guard Royce Williams, were scintillating on offence, and they had poured in 65 by the end of the third quarter.
“They just seemed to hit so many tough shots,” said Moycullen guard Patrick Lyons. “We’re extremely disappointed. The cup is now gone for another year and that is hard to take, but I don’t think we could have had any quibbles with the outcome on the day - they were always one step ahead of us.”
Moycullen looked good early on, and some ferocious defence generated opportunities on the fast-break allowing the home side to race to a 19 to 15 lead by the end of the first. They led by five mid-way through the second quarter, before the Killester backcourt combination of Williams and Ciaran Roe took control with a string of superb baskets.
Killester repeatedly found the target from long range during a stretch when Moycullen could only manage six points in the final seven minutes of the half, leaving the home side trailing by nine at the break.
Killester’s hot handed shooting continued, taking a 25-point lead into the final quarter and Moycullen never recovered.
Moycullen: James Loughnane 20, Steven Tummon 13, Brandon McGuire 9, Cian Nihill, Patrick Lyons 4, Joseph Tummon 3, Kyle Cunningham 3, Dylan Cunningham 3, Paul Freeman 1, James Lyons, Connor Curran, Mark Convery. Coach, John Cunningham.
