Panthers suffer early exit from National Cup at the hands of ruthless Lakers

Basketball Ireland Men's Division 1 National Cup

Bowes Auto Centre Portlaoise Panthers 85 

SPK Utility Trust St Paul’s Lakers 101 

IT was an early exit from this season’s Men’s Division One National Cup for Bowes Auto Centre Portlaoise Panthers, as they struggled to contain the prolific outside shooting of St Paul’s Killarney, and in particular American, Jack Watkins when the two sides clashed in the opening round on Saturday night.

Back on their home court in St Mary’s Hall for the first time this season following the completion of work on the new floor there, Portlaoise had been hoping to make it a successful return, but their Kerry rivals spoiled the party, as Watkins amassed a colossal 41 points, 18 of which came from beyond the arc.

Indeed, SPK enjoyed their best game off the three-point line so far this season, draining a huge 15 shots from downtown for a 48 percent return from that area of the court.

Jack O’Sullivan and Evan Boyle were others who punished from distance for the visitors as they combined for 30 points, while Justin Wickham served up a double-double of 13 points and 12 rebounds to help see St Paul’s set up a quarter-final clash against Tipp Talons.

St Paul’s ruthlessness from the perimeter and three-point zone was such, that even a huge haul of 33 points and 13 rebounds by Tommy DiRienzo could not rescue this game for Portlaoise, who also saw Rich Ashu card a double-double of 22 points and 12 boards.

Panthers head coach, Jack Scully lamented his side’s defensive frailties on the night, telling the *****Laois Nationalist**** “We’re extremely disappointed with the performance on our first game back home in our new hall.

“They [SPK] are a really good team and their American was really good, but we just weren’t tuned in defensively. We just weren’t at the races, so it’s back to the drawing board now and hopefully we can kick on against Killorglin at home this weekend” he said.

Portlaoise opened proceedings with a sublime treble from Kevin Donohoe and a layup from Jayden Umeh, but St Paul’s responded with a nine-point run that was ignited by a Wickham deuce and quickly followed by superb bucket from beyond the arc by O’Sullivan.

The home side did manage to restore parity at nine points apiece and it proved a tight opening quarter, with the two sides deadlocked on no less than five occasions.

The visitors, however, were carving out no shortage of looks from off the three-point line which they proved well capable of converting, Boyle, Watkins, and Valters Mazburss all draining their attempts from range.

Still, only a solitary point (24-23) separated the two sides at the close of the first quarter, a late free-throw from Wickham proving the difference.

That threat from off the arc, however, continued to prove a real headache for the Portlaoise defence in the second quarter with Boyle and Watkins both putting the ball through the string just over a minute into that period.

Indeed, the latter really went off in that 10-minute block, amassing a huge 20 points to improve his tally to 28 by the halftime break, at which point Killarney had opened up a significant 57-43 gap.

DiRienzo was doing his utmost to keep Portlaoise in touch with hard-fought buckets down the lane and another from downtown that saw him head in at the break with 24 points to his name, but the hosts were still facing a mountain to climb as the second half got underway.

They did make a bright start to the third with Donohoe and Umeh draining buckets from inside and beyond the arc respectively only to see St Paul’s kick on again with a big treble from Mark Sheehan.

And any hope of a comeback was pretty much snuffed out when the visitors produced a further nine-point run that was completed with yet another three from O’Sullivan, as St Paul’s took a big 83-60 lead into the fourth and final period.

Portlaoise did bag the opening six points of that quarter, compliments of Ashu and DiRienzo, but there was never any danger of St Paul’s imploding, with Watkins and O’Sullivan putting up a further 13 points between them to help see their side break the century mark.

It is now three games without a win for this Portlaoise outfit and they will want to remedy that this coming Saturday when they welcome Flexachem KCYMS to St Mary’s Hall.

BOWES AUTO CENTRE PORTLAOISE PANTHERS: Cillian O’Connell, Dylan Dunne, Cormac Howson, Jayden Umeh, Conor Byrne, Trevor Swayne, Davin McEvoy, Kevin Donohoe, Rich Ashu, Gary Morrissey, Tommy DiRienzo.

Top Scorers: Tommy DiRienzo (33), Rich Ashu (22), Dylan Dunne (10).

SPK UTILITY TRUST LAKERS: Ben Burke, Evan Boyle, Jack O’Sullivan, Cillian O’Leary, Jack Watkins, Mark Sheehan, Valters Mazburss, Rui Saravia, Justin Wickham, Darragh O’Callaghan.

Top Scorers: Jack Watkins (41), Jack O’Sullivan (20), Justin Wickham (13), Evan Boyle (10).