AFTER making a successful start to 2022, Belfast Star are back on their home court of De La Salle Sports Hall when they host Killester on Saturday (6.30pm) in the Basketball Ireland Super League.
Adrian Fulton's side had not tasted action since before Christmas when they travelled west to face Moycullen and there were no signs of rust as they scored a hugely impressive 79-46 win.
This weekend they can expect a tougher test against their North Conference rivals who sit one place above them in third - albeit on points difference - and this third versus fourth clash should lead to a closely-contested game.
“Killester are just off a very impressive win on the road in Killorglin, after another excellent performance to beat the Cup winners Tralee Warriors," noted Star head coach, Adrian Fulton.
"We will have our hands full with them. When we won in the IWA earlier in the season Ciaran Roe wasn't playing, so that really helped us.
"We have a run of home games now and we hope we can string some good performances together. We haven't played in front of our home fans since mid-December, so we are looking forward to that.
"Brian (O’Malley) and Mark (Grennell) are excellent coaches and they have loads of talent and experience in the squad. It should be fun.”
Killester travel to Belfast off the back of a 95-71 win on the road at Killorglin last weekend with Tomas Fernandez Zerolo and Kason Harrell contributing 50 points between them.
The Dublin club's head coach, Brian O’Malley, is hoping his team can build on last week's victory in Kerry.
“We are looking forward to the game at the weekend," he said.
"We had a good performance overall in Killorglin, but there was still a number of things we had to work on this week.
"As we move back into the Conference schedule, it gives us a good chance to see how far we've have progressed as a team.”
In Division One, Ulster University host EJ Sligo All-Stars at Jordanstown on Saturday (7.30pm). This forms part of a doubleheader with UU's women taking on Swords Thunder at 5pm.
