Panthers complete double-game weekend with convincing win over Carrick

ND AUDIT PORTLAOISE PANTHERS 95 

CARRICK CRUISERS 68 

ND AUDIT Portlaoise Panthers made it two wins in less than 24 hours as they comfortably dealt with the challenge of Carrick Cruisers in St Mary’s Hall on Sunday afternoon to reassert their bid to secure top spot in the Men’s Division One North Conference.

Jack Scully’s side had suffered a recent wobble with back-to-back defeats at the hands of Drogheda Wolves and Limerick Celtics, but they bounced back over the weekend, following up on Saturday night’s 107-83 victory over Moy Tolka Rovers with another convincing home win against Carrick on Sunday.

James Phelan drained 10 of his 12 free throws on his way to a game-best 31-point total for the hosts, while Eric Anderson and Xabi Arriaga weighed in with a further 37 to cancel out the 27-point return carded by Carrick’s heaviest hitter, Shamus Kahl.

“We’re absolutely delighted to get another win on the board,” smiled Portlaoise head coach, Jack Scully.

“We knew it was a big weekend coming and we knew if we could get two wins, it would go a long way to locking up that home-advantage play-off spot.

“I thought the performance [against Carrick] was really good, although we struggled a little bit in patches.

“But to keep them to 68 points is exactly what we want to do, and, with 95 points on offence, it’s something that we’ve got to be happy with too,” he told the ******Laois Nationalist*****.

Anderson accounted for the game’s opening five points as he landed attempts from both sides of the arc, although Kahl followed suit to help keep the visitors in touch early on.

Indeed, only a point separated the two sides midway through the opening quarter, but an 11-point run, that featured superb threes from Arriaga and Cillian O’Connell, saw Portlaoise take a strong grip on this fixture.

Liam Kinsella drained both his efforts from the free-throw line and took another two points from the floor before Phelan served up a buzzer-beating three that left Panthers 36-24 in front by the end of the first quarter.

The home side pressed home their advantage when they returned to the court, registering a further nine unanswered points as Phelan and Anderson inflicted more damage from downtown.

That pushed their lead out to a hefty 21 points before Vitalijus Kaminskas got Carrick going again when he served up a deuce with just under four minutes gone in the second quarter.

Further buckets from Kahl and Kaminskas, reduced the gap to 16 (53-37) by the half-time recess as Carrick looked to drag themselves back into contention.

An eight-point run early in the third quarter helped them in that endeavour, Dana Smigelskis picking up two from the free-throw line, while Kahl continued to prove a problem in the paint and perimeter.

He picked up another deuce to help whittle down his side’s arrears to six with just over three minutes remaining in the penultimate period, but Portlaoise managed to push their advantage back out to 14 (67-53) as Arriaga served up some timely buckets.

Carrick, who were eager to bounce back from their loss to Drogheda Wolves that ended their four-game winning streak the night before, were very much staring another defeat in the face as they saw the gap enlarged to 20 points midway through the fourth.

And they were given no quarter by a Portlaoise outfit looking to nail down top spot in the North Conference, the Laois side finishing strongly as Anderson and Phelan added to their tallies before Jayden Umeh served up two impressive three-pointers in the closing two minutes.

“There’s still loads to work to be done, but roll on Friday night when we play Tipp Talons, which, I’m sure, will be another tough game,” said Scully after Sunday’s victory.

ND AUDIT PORTLAOISE PANTHERS: Cillian O’Connell, Dylan Dunne, Jayden Umeh, James Phelan, Cormac Howson, Eric Anderson, Davin McEvoy, Kevin Donohoe, Xabi Arriaga, Liam Kinsella.

Top Scorers: James Phelan (31), Eric Anderson (20), Xabi Arriaga (17).

CARRICK CRUISERS: Dana Smigelskis, Benyi Gomez, Angelo Bumatay, Gustas Pocevicius, Shamus Kahl, Martins Provizors, Theo McMahon, Vitalijus Kaminskas.

Top Scorers: Shamus Kahl (27), Danas Smigelskis (11), Benyi Gomez (8), Vitalijus Kaminskas (8).