Belfast Star coach Sean Ingle has called on his men to show their quality over the next couple of weeks following the shock knee injury suffered by captain Conor Quinn.
Quinn missed the 89-79 weekend defeat away to Sligo in the All Ireland Superleague and will not be available for this Saturday’s home clash with fourth-placed Ballincollig as Star aim to bounce back from a disappointing defeat, which saw them slip out of the play-off spots into 10th place.
Coach Ingle commented: “Any time you lose an Irish international it’s a big blow and obviously Conor is a very important player for us. But as far as I’m concerned it’s a case of next man up and against Sligo I thought Conor Ryan was excellent defensively, especially in the third and fourth quarters.
“When it comes to the points that Conor gives us, we need other guys to step up and make shots. Losing someone of his calibre is hard to replace but we have to do it and everybody needs to chip in.
“We know that Ballincollig are going to be a very tough test. They were Cup winners a couple of seasons ago and they have a lot of experience, good professionals… so we need to be concentrated from start to finish. I’m hoping that the home crowd can drive us on. The way this league is you have to bring your 'a' game every time or games will slip away.”
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Against Sligo Star were in the fight until four minutes to go then their offence went cold and the home side took full advantage.
“We had a game plan defensively and didn’t stick to that in the first half and gave up 51 points but after speaking to the guys at half-time they were really locked in and did a really good job. That’s the standard we should be expecting to see every week,” commented Ingle.
“We didn’t execute well enough in the final four minutes and paid the price. There were also a couple of calls that went against us and then we ended up chasing the game a little which is never good. We had some easy looks that didn’t drop.
“So, we do need to be better down the stretch and make sure that we get the ball to the right people in those moments. It was the same in the last minute and a half against Demons when the game got away from us.”
Star were only down by three going into the second quarter and when Sligo extended their lead, American Darweshi Hunter came up with two three-pointers to get them to within three again at 41-38, Thomas Paul Child, Jevonnie Scott and Jonathan Brown pushed Sligo clear again and they were 51-41 ahead at the break.
Deondre Jackson, who top scored on 29, made his presence felt in the third quarter as did Aidan Quinn whose three-pointer with two and a half minutes remaining brought Star to within two at 67-65. Robert Montgomery, Sligo’s top scorer, was a constant thorn in Star’s side and he made sure his side led 72-67 going into the final 10 minutes.
Star started the fourth quarter with real purpose. Baskets from Max Cooper and Quinn pushed them to within a point. Just as the home side thought they may pull away Cooper nailed two free throws and with five minutes remaining the sides were tied at 77-all.
Inexplicably, Jackson, Quinn and Hunter all missed clear opportunities, while John O’Carroll, Montgomery Scott and Brown maintained their prowess for Sligo and the chance of an important win on the road disappeared.