Portlaoise storm back to topple Tolka in first game of weekend double-header

ND AUDIT PORTLAOISE PANTHERS 107 

MOY TOLKA ROVERS 83 

 ND AUDIT Portlaoise Panthers battled back from 11 points down at the close of the first quarter to record a convincing 24-point victory over Moy Tolka Rovers in their Men’s Division One clash in St. Mary’s Hall on Saturday night.

Heading into this fixture on the back of two straight defeats at the hands of Drogheda Wolves and Limerick Celtics, the North Conference leaders were determined to get their campaign back on the rails.

And, while they may have stumbled from the blocks in this latest outing, they soon regained their poise to take command of the tie, helped no-end by a ruthless offensive display that saw them finish with five players in double figures, including Liam Kinsella on a game-high 27 points.

Eric Anderson and Xabi Arriaga also contributed significantly with a combined 43 points that went a long way to securing victory in the first game of a double-header for Jack Scully’s side this weekend, as they prepare go again less than 24 hours later when Carrick Cruisers pay a visit to St. Mary’s Hall on Sunday afternoon.

“I’m absolutely delighted with that performance,” Scully told the ****Laois Nationalist***** after Saturday night’s victory.

“We obviously haven’t been happy with the performances over the last couple of weeks, but we’ve done a lot of work on getting back to basics on offence and defence, and tonight, a lot of that paid off.

“I thought that was our best offensive performance of the season. We moved the ball well and we trusted each other to make the shots.

“Tolka were extremely efficient in the first half and you could see that in the 55-point return for them on offence, so obviously we weren’t happy with that.

“But at half-time we talked about locking down on defence and we did that, keeping them to less than 30 points in the second half which is where we want to be,” he said.

While Arriaga’s sublime score from downtown cancelled out Stephen Commins’ excellent three for Tolka, all within the opening 30 seconds, it was the visitors who took off after that with an eight-point run that featured another bucket from beyond the arc, this time by Emiliyan Grudov.

Panthers managed to reduce their arrears to three when Davin McEvoy, himself, struck from distance, but Tolka pushed on to open up an 11-point advantage (31-20) by the time the buzzer sounded to end the first quarter, by which point Mike Wallace had chalked up nine for the visitors and Commins just one less.

But it was all Anderson in the second quarter, the American draining all three off his attempts from outside the arc on his way to a huge 16 points in that period alone.

His weighty contribution, together with a further combined 13 from James Phelan and Kinsella, saw the hosts narrow the gap to just four points (55-51) by the half-time break.

And, with less than a minute gone in the third, Jack Scully’s side had overtaken their Dublin rivals, as they went on a ten-point run that featured big scores from distance by Arriaga and McEvoy.

Indeed, Portlaoise really locked down their defence, restricting Tolka to just 13 points in the third quarter and 28 for the entire second half, while they amassed 56 in the same period.

Arriaga, Phelan, McEvoy and Kinsella all executed off the three-point line to help see their side take a 13-point (81-68) cushion into the fourth quarter.

And there was no let-up by the hosts, as they served up a further 12 unanswered points in less than three minutes, Kinsella leading that wave of scoring with brilliant efforts from both sides of the arc to see him emerge the game’s most prolific scorer.

Arriaga and Anderson, meanwhile, made their presence felt under the boards, each mopping up seven rebounds, while Phelan took his total of assists to an impressive 10.

Portlaoise will, however, have no time to savour this victory, as they quickly turn their attention to the challenge of a Carrick Cruisers side who will be chomping at the bit after seeing their four-game winning streak ended by Drogheda Wolves on Saturday night.

“Carrick are absolutely way better than their record suggests” warned Scully. “They’ve had a couple of big wins over the last few weeks, so it’s certainly not a game we’ll be taking lightly,” he insisted.

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

Top Scorers: Liam Kinsella (27), Eric Anderson (25), Xabi Arriaga (18), James Phelan (15), Davin McEvoy (13).

MOY TOLKA ROVERS: Daniel Ayoade, Mike Wallace, Marcus Black, Tom Kenny, Elijah Faapito, Samuel Badejo, Thomas McCourt, Misan Fyne, Stephen Commins, Emiliyan Grudov.

Top Scorers: Mike Wallace (22), Stephen Commins (20), Emiliyan Grudov (15), Elijah Faapito (11).