BELFAST Star coach Sean Ingle hailed the performance of American Deondre Jackson following his side’s 101-92 victory over St Vincent’s in the All Ireland Superleague at New Forge on Saturday night.
American Jackson finished on 30 points and picked up six rebounds but most importantly he took the fight to the Dubliners when Star were under the cosh, particularly in the third quarter and at the start of the fourth.
The win was just what Star needed on the back of a defeat away to sixth-placed Marian, whom they are now level on points with in the Superleague.
Ingle says he is now hoping that Jackson can maintain his level, starting with this Saturday night’s clash away to Vincent’s.
“It was nice to see Dre back to the level he was producing last year for Star,” said coach Ingle.
“He had 30 points, but he probably could have had 40 but a few easy ones didn’t drop in the first half. I thought he was fantastic and if he can keep doing that, we’ll be in good shape.
“He’s very hard to stop in transition and going downhill to the basket. I thought against Marian he forced things at times, he was putting the team on his back and he was dribbling into guys but in this game he was aggressive but also gave up the ball when he needed to. We need him to have that aggression.
“Overall, I thought our first-half performance was much better than last week.
“Defensively, it was much more what we’re looking for, kept them off the glass and good in transition. But in the third quarter, credit to Vincent’s they put it up to us and at one stage went ahead.
“We gave up over 30 points, which wasn’t great. There were too many easy lay-ups. But we came out for the fourth quarter and got the defence the way we wanted again. We then got some fast breaks out of that, which was pleasing.”
Conor Quinn hit some vital baskets 
Along with Jackson, Darweshi Hunter and Max Richardson stood out for Star. Hunter finished on 25 points and 13 rebounds, while Richardson scored 17 and picked up six rebounds. Aidan Quinn, stepping up as captain in place of twin brother Conor, also produced some crucial baskets in the final quarter.
In the early stages, Star found themselves behind before Jackson and Richardson started to make their presence felt. And at the end of the first quarter, Star led 24-18.
Vincent’s reduced the lead to two points early on before Quinn came up with a three-pointer which kept Star in front.
There wasn’t much between the sides until the final two minutes of the second quarter when Hunter and Richardson hit three-pointers to give Star a 46-35 lead at the break.
Despite two early baskets from Richardson at the start of the third quarter, the home side then found themselves under the cosh as Jaron Thames, who finished on a game-high 35 points, and Samuel Henderson inspired a fightback from the Dubliners.
It was Jackson who stepped up, repeatedly driving to the basket to make sure Star led 68-67 going into the final quarter.
Star gradually took charge and Jackson, Quinn and Hunter to the fore and with two minutes they eased into an unassailable 14-point lead.
MVP Jackson commented: “Last week’s defeat was a heartbreaking loss. We knew we couldn’t lose two in a row and man we just have to make sure we’re in the play-offs.
“I just tried to play like a man on a mission, get to the rim and put pressure on the defence. Our season has been up and down and we just needed to get this win at home so I just came out to push my team forward.
“We all just need a bit more confidence, we’re second-guessing ourselves a little. Even I feel that but in this game I just focused on being aggressive. We need to focus on ourselves, focusing on winning basketball.”
