Irish Basketball Super League
Éanna 99 Belfast Star 84

BELFAST Star served up an early Christmas present for Éanna in the Super League last weekend when a very sluggish first quarter meant that Adrian Fulton’s side had a mountain to climb for the remainder of the game.

Star managed to make the rest of the contest highly competitive but having to come back from a 13-point deficit at the end of the first proved just too much for them overall.

The Éanna victory brings Star’s unbeaten Super League run to an end and comes just two weeks after they exited the National Cup at the hands of Cork’s UCC Demons.

Throughout Saturday’s game in Dublin, Éanna appeared much hungrier and sharper than the visitors. Indeed, had it not been for a barnstorming performance from Star’s De’Ondre Jackson the margin of victory would have been significantly more.

The dazzling Jackson proved near impossible to shackle on his way to amassing 42 points. However, his fellow US professional Tamyrik Fields had a relative off-day by his high standards and hit one of his lowest hauls of the season, 16 points.

Éanna double-scored over Star in a first quarter when they were surprisingly fast out of the blocks and on their way to a comfortable 26-13 lead. By halftime, they had increased the margin by one, 48-34.

Pushed by Jackson, Star rallied well at the beginning of the third  but even though they brought the margin down to an attainable seven points, the home side showed greater resolve and never really looked to be significantly troubled. Again, Éanna fought hard to hold on to their lead and were 15 points in front going into the fourth, 70-55.

The final quarter was a high-scoring affair with each side hitting 29 points but, as the clock wound down, the game remained beyond the reach of Star who have to regret letting their opponents race away so early on in the game.

Afterwards, head coach Adrian Fulton reflected on the first half of the season as the League takes a brief Christmas break. 

“We’ve made a terrific start to the competition overall and the commitment from the group has been first class,” he said.

“But, with tough games ahead of us, we need to play hard for the full 40 minutes in every game - we just can’t afford to be so slow out of the blocks as we were tonight.”

Top scorers for Star were De’Ondre Jackson, 42, Tamyrik Fields, 16, and Conor Quinn and Oisin Kerlin with eight apiece. Star resume action on Saturday 30 December when they face St Vincent’s in Dublin in a 7pm tip.