Captain, Conor Quinn says Belfast Star have proved they can beat any side in the All-Ireland Superleague following their biggest victory of the season on Sunday when they overcame Tralee Warriors.

Star, who sit ninth in the Superleague suffered a shock 92-84 defeat away to second-from-bottom Templeogue on Saturday night and were underdogs going into the clash with Tralee in the De La Salle College gym but produced their best performance of the season to win 109-100 before a packed crowd.

American Deondre Jackson was the outstanding performer for Star, coming up with 37 points and driving them to victory with a stunning second-half performance.

Fellow American Darweshi came up with 22 points and five rebounds and crucially hit all six free throws in the final minute of a dramatic duel. Aidan Quinn had 14 points and six rebounds, Conor Quinn hit 13 and Max Cooper scored 12 points along with nine rebounds – seven of which were defensive.

Captain Quinn said: “That level of performance against Tralee is exactly what Belfast Star basketball is all about and it’s been missing for too long.

“Defensively was the biggest thing. We didn’t have as much size as them but when it came to heart and determination, we brought that, that’s what was so pleasing… sticking it to probably the most talented team in the league.

“It was a big turnaround from the loss to Templeogue the night before. We now have to focus on the last seven games of the regular season and this win over Tralee should act as a big springboard for us.

“It’s one thing to talk a lot about having so much talent and how good we are but those are just words unless you can back it up.

“It’s been a while since we came out and showed that we can beat anyone in the country and now we have shown that we can beat any team in the league. This has to give us a lot of confidence.”

Quinn also paid tribute to Max Cooper who had a bout of food poisoning that meant he could not play against Templeogue, while Oisin Kerlin was ruled out with a broken nose sustained in a freak collision in training last Thursday.

“Credit to Coop because he was suffering and he was great for us in defence and then you have Max Richardson carrying a back injury and he put in a top performance in what was a war. There were some big hits out there,” he added.

Having led 26-20 after the first quarter Star kept their noses in front until two minutes before the break.

The Warriors threatened to pull away but Conor Quinn came up with a three-pointer followed by a Jackson basket and then the Star captain converted on the buzzer to leave the sides 49-all at half-time.

Three-pointers in succession from Jackson, Aidan Quinn and Conor Quinn towards the end of the third quarter opened up an eight-point gap and going into the final 10 minutes Star led 76-70.

Jackson was proving to be the difference between the sides as he produced some moments of magic and aggression, driving at the Tralee defence, taking his hits and making basket after basket.

A blistering start to the fourth quarter saw Tralee’s top scorer Marquavian Stephens (28pts) and Daniel Jokubaitis hit three-pointers and those were answered by two threes from Hunter and one each from Jackson and Aidan Quinn.

Star felt Tralee breathing down their necks throughout the final two minutes but when they had to go to the line, Cooper, Conor Quinn, Jackson and Hunter made sure to convert their free throws to secure a huge victory.

Star coach Sean Ingle said: “It’s massive for us. I’ve said the whole season that we have the talent on our roster to beat anyone in the league but the effort and intensity has to be there in the defensive end. It wasn’t there against Templeogue and we paid the price and then we come out and beat one of the top teams in the league.

“Dre stepped up massively. He was unbelievable. He did what he wanted to. He made tough shots and that was missing against Templeogue and Darweshi made big shots down the stretch from the free throw line.”