Panthers men keep their foot on the accelerator in approach to playoffs

Mater Private Malahide 82 

ND Audit Portlaoise Panthers 95 

THERE was no easing up on the throttle by ND Audit Portlaoise Panthers, as they chalked up a 13-point road win over Mater Private Malahide when the two sides clashed on Saturday night in Malahide Community School.

That result struck a fatal blow to the Dublin team’s chances of reaching the Domino’s Men’s Division One play-off quarter finals this season, as they were consequently pipped to the last remaining spot in the North Conference by Drogheda Wolves.

Portlaoise, who had already secured their place in the playoffs as top seeds in the North last month, have refused to take their foot off the gas, winning all three games since then, and they will be hoping to make it a fourth on Sunday evening when they make the trip to Carrick Cruisers for their final match of the regular season.

While Malahide certainly put it up to them on Saturday, Portlaoise did hit the afterburners down the stretch to pull clear for a win that saw them finish with four players in double digits, including Xabi Arriaga and Eric Anderson on a combined 42 points and 15 rebounds.

Kevin Donohoe also made his presence felt for the visitors, taking 10 boards, as he played his part in seeing off a Malahide team for whom Romonn Nelson and Evan Blackmon amassed 48 between them.

Arriaga opened proceedings with superb strike from beyond the arc for the hosts before Nelson responded with a deuce for Malahide.

Apart from a brief spell, when an Evan Blackmon three levelled it up at five points apiece, Portlaoise remained out in front for the remainder of the opening quarter, the visitors serving up the final five points of that period, compliments of Aleksandar Kovacevic, and James Phelan to lead 26-20.

But the Dublin side found their groove in their second quarter, during which they outscored Panthers by 11 to overtake into a 42-37 advantage.

They accounted for the opening seven points of that quarter, Sean Fitzpatrick and Cian Daly both getting in for buckets before Nelson picked up an ‘and one’ to see them into the lead for the first time in the game.

Davin McEvoy arrested that surge, but Malahide kept the scoreboard ticking as Sean Daly and Nelson landed threes that were followed by buckets from Blackmon and Oran Flannery, along with points from the free-throw line by Matthew Harper.

Portlaoise were struggling to garner some momentum at this point, but they remained well in touch by way of scores from Anderson, Arriaga, Phelan and Kyle Burke.

And, while Malahide did strike first in the third to push their lead out to eight by way of a Nelson three, Portlaoise responded with a huge 16-point run that featured superb efforts from downtown by Dylan Dunne and Arriaga, along with brilliant work in the paint by Anderson.

That surge saw Portlaoise back in the driving seat by eight, although Malahide managed to halve that deficit by the end of the third quarter (70-66), thanks in no small measure to big scores off the three-point arc by Blackmon.

But Panthers continued to put a lot more daylight between themselves and their hosts in the fourth, helped no end by two six-point runs and 11 points by Arriaga over the closing ten minutes which accounted for half of his total on the night.

Indeed, he drained three attempts from off the arc, all within two minutes of the start of the fourth to help the visitors tighten their hold on his game.

And despite Cillian Duignan, himself, responding with a couple of threes and Christian McDonnell chalking up six down the stretch, the scores were too few and far between for the hosts, who consequently missed out on the points that would have preserved their hopes of pipping Drogheda to the final playoff berth.

MATER PRIVATE MALAHIDE: Cillian Duignan, Oran Flannery, Cian Daly, Sean Daly, Stephen Ingle, Matthew Harper, Sean Fitzpatrick, Romonn Nelson, Christian McDonnell, Evan Blackmon.

Top Scorers: Romonn Nelson (26), Evan Blackmon (22), Matthew Harper (8).

ND AUDIT PORTLAOISE PANTHERS: Cillian O’Connell, Dylan Dunne, James Phelan, Eric Anderson, Davin McEvoy, Kevin Donohoe, Gary Morrissey, Xabi Arriaga, Kyle Burke, Aleksandar Kovacevic.

Top Scorers: Xabi Arriaga (22), Eric Anderson (20), Davin McEvoy (15), James Phelan (11).