Big second-half display sees Panthers surge past plucky Cougars

ND Audit Portlaoise Panthers 91 

Killarney Cougars 67 

A BIG second-half performance was very much required by ND Audit Portlaoise Panthers in order to see off Killarney Cougars and keep their bid for a National League Division One play-off berth on track.

Only a solitary point separated the two sides at the half-time recess, but Portlaoise hit the afterburners when they returned to the court, outgunning the South Conference table props by 24 by the close of proceedings in St. Mary’s Hall on Saturday.

Xabi Arriaga went off after the break, draining no less than seven of his 12 efforts from beyond the arc in that period to take his tally to 25 points for the hosts, just three shy of the game-high 28 that team mate, Amiri Darrell Stewart totalled on the day.

Dylan Dunne and Davin McEvoy, between them, added a further 23 to the scoreboard, while Trevor Swayne mopped up 10 rebounds and Jayden Umeh, fresh from his All-Ireland Schools League title win with St. Mary’s CBS only the day before, carded five assists.

Killarney, travelling with a very small squad, saw Joshua Phillips and Kenny Shimwa bag a combined 35 points, but the Kerry side was confined to just 24 in the second half, as Portlaoise pulled well clear.

The visitors did make a bright start to this contest, Shimwa draining a treble before Lucas Cronin got in for a bucket that put them five points up in the opening minute.

Stewart got Panthers up and running when he struck from off the three-point line only to see their opponents respond with baskets from Shimwa and Phillips.

But a nine-point run by Portlaoise, that included triples from Kevin Donohoe and McEvoy, propelled the home side in front for the first time in the game with just under four minutes played.

Killarney, however, demonstrated their ability to put together a surge, registering 12 points without reply, as Paul Adedeji dropped the ball through the string from both sides of the arc before adding an ‘and one’ to help his side go 23-16 up by the end of the first quarter.

Phillips managed to extend that lead to nine with just 20 seconds gone in the second period, but Portlaoise responded with 11 unanswered points to overtake by two as Stewart hit scores from both sides of the arc that bookended points from Justice Iheme and Swayne.

That set the scene for a real tug-of-war over the next five minutes, as the lead change hands no less than 12 times before the half-time break, McEvoy getting in for a basket with 21 seconds left in the half to see Panthers take the narrowest of advantages (44-43) into the interval.

Two shots off the three-point line in the space of just over a minute by Arriaga helped the hosts hold on to that slender cushion early in the third, before they began to pull clear with an eight-point run that featured another brace of strikes from downtown by the Spaniard.

Shimwa got in to halt that surge, but that would prove their final score until almost a minute into the fourth quarter, by which point, Jack Scully’s side had enlarged the deficit to 19 points, Arriaga inflicting more hurt from beyond the arc before Stewart got in on the act.

Again Phillips punctuated that run with another deuce, but Portlaoise’s momentum could not be stopped, the hosts serving up another 11 points without response as Arriaga maintained his devastating form from range.

Adedeji and Shimwa managed to keep the scoreboard ticking for Killarney, but certainly not at the rate they needed to haul themselves back into contention, as Portlaoise comfortably bagged the spoils from this outing, Dunne signing off for them with a last-minute triple.

ND AUDIT PORTLAOISE PANTHERS: Brayan DeSouza, Dylan Dunne, Amiri Darrell Stewart, Jayden Umeh, Trevor Swayne, Davin McEvoy, Kevin Donohoe, Xabi Arriaga, Love Omoijade, Justice Iheme.

Top Scorers: Amiri Darrell Stewart (28), Xabi Arriaga (25), Davin McEvoy (12), Dylan Dunne (11).

KILLARNEY COUGARS: Lucas Cronin, Simon Olanipekun, Paul Adedeji, Kenny Shimwa, Joshua Phillips.

Top Scorers: Joshua Phillips (20), Kenny Shimwa (15), Paul Adedeji (13), Simon Olanipekun (11).