Panthers turn up the heat in second half to surmount Carrick

CARRICK CRUISERS 71 

ND AUDIT PORTLAOISE PANTHERS 85

ND AUDIT Portlaoise Panthers head coach, Jack Scully applauded the superb defensive performance his players served up in the second half of their Men’s Division One clash with Carrick Cruisers in Phoenix Centre on Sunday evening.

Having conceded 54 points in the opening half of this, their final game of the regular season, the North Conference winners turned off the tap for their opponents in the second, affording them a mere 17 as they overtook for a comfortable victory that improved their record to 20-2, leaving them in confident mood heading into next Saturday night’s playoff quarter-final against Maigh Cuilinn.

“Carrick were really efficient in the first half,” said Scully. “They hit everything and scored 54 points.

“Obviously we wouldn't be happy with shipping that many points in the first half, but then in the second, we really went after them defensively and held them to 17, which was hugely impressive.

“Defence has been a huge focus of our training for the last couple of weeks and to see it come good in the second half today, it was definitely the winning of the game” he insisted While they turned the screw on Carrick over the closing two quarters, Portlaoise also delivered down the other end of the court with Eric Anderson and James Phelan totalling 42 points, while Xabi Arriaga weighed in with 10 assists.

It was not the start to this game that Portlaoise would have been hoping for as they found themselves eight points adrift of their hosts with just over two minutes gone, Shamus Kahl draining buckets from both sides of the arc in what was the start of his 29-point haul.

Buckets from Anderson and Davin McEvoy helped Portlaoise cut the gap to four, only to see Carrick take off again with an 11-point run that featured big threes from Killian McAdam and Gustas Pocevicius, the homeside ending the opening period with a 30-18 cushion.

Panthers struggled to make any significant in-roads into Carrick’s advantage throughout the second quarter, the Laois side managing to chip only three points off that first-quarter deficit by the half-time recess, at which stage they trailed 54-45.

But it was in the final two quarters that Portlaoise really established a tight grip on this game, their defence turning the screw on the hosts as they fought their way back to overtake into a 66-63 lead by the end of the third.

McEvoy and Anderson executed from distance while Phelan and Arriaga mopped up from in and around the paint to see Panthers on the front foot for the first time in this tie.

They opened the fourth with eight unanswered points, Liam Kinsella and Kevin Donohoe supplying the scores in that run.

And, while Kahl got in to stop that surge, his deuce was met only by another seven straight points for the visitors, Alexandar Kovacevic and Phelan leading the charge over those couple of minutes to help see Panthers establish a commanding 16-point cushion that Carrick were unable to erode.

Delighted with the finish his team has made to the regular season, Scully told the Laois Nationalist “We had a rough couple of weeks around January when we lost the cup and then lost two league games, but we've really knuckled down and we're after winning seven of the last seven.

“We're the form team in the country at the moment, in terms of wins over the last two months, and overall, we’re really happy with the season.

“To win 20 out of 22 regular season games is really pleasing. Everyone would have taken that at the start of the year, so we're just looking forward to getting stuck in in the playoffs next weekend and hopefully we can take another step forward and reach a semi-final for the first time” he said.

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

Top Scorers: Shamus Kahl (29), Benyi Gomez (14), Killian McAdam (11), Gustas Pocevicius (10).

ND AUDIT PORTLAOISE PANTHERS: Dylan Dunne, James Phelan, Eric Anderson, Davin McEvoy, Kevin Donohoe, Gary Morrissey, Xabi Arriaga, Aleksandar Kovacevic, Liam Kinsella.

Top Scorers: Eric Anderson (22), James Phelan (20), Davin McEvoy (11), Kevin Donohoe (9), Aleksandar Kovacevic (9).