Moycullen 65
Scott’s Lakers 47
Report: Enda Walshe
There is no way of sugar coating this result. It was a tough day in the office for Scott’s Lakers.
Minus the services of Darnell Snyers, due to an injury picked up the Saturday night previous against Carrick Cruisers, his contribution was certainly missed and one hopes he’ll be fit and ready as soon as possible.
What was always going to be a tricky assignment against a team who had served their time in the Superleague was made all the harder by a quartam horribilis where anything that could go wrong did in the second period.

Leading by 20-19 early in the second quarter, having weathered an early Moycullen storm, things started to go pear shaped when Mikah Blackwell, Abdul Oladipupo and Jack O’Sullivan were all on three fouls which, of course, necessitated a sit down.
The next five minutes saw Moycullen embark on a 19-0 scoring run with Aitor Perez being the tormentor-in-chief. By the time Eoin Carroll had registered the Lakers’ first basket in what seemed like an eternity they were 38-22 in arrears.
It was a disappointing end to a half where the Lakers recovered from a poor start to get themselves back in the contest. Aitor Perez and Grant Ollson made a bright start for the hosts, drawing fouls from the Lakers’ defence but not capitalising on it from the free-throw line.
They led 10-2 but Oladipupo and Blackwell reeled them in to close the gap to 14-12. Rui Saravia, Jamie O’Sullivan and Oisin Spring were all sprung from the bench during the quarter and when Rui Saravia weaved in for a score it left the Lakers only in arrears due to an Ollson three.

Oladipupo and Blackwell started the second quarter on the front foot but everything started to fall into a black hole thereafter and the subsequent minutes saw them head for the locker rooms with a mountain to climb.
To be fair, the Lakers dusted themselves down with Mark Sheehan, Jack O’Sullivan, Blackwell and Oladipupo netting and with the defence getting some joy the lead was whittled down to 12, 42-30.
One of the by-products of the foul trouble the Lakers found themselves in is they had to walk a tightrope and this was reflected in the fact that they gave up no foul in the third quarter. Moycullen were doing just enough to mind the gap with Ollson, Cian Walsh and Perez helping to make it a 52-37 scoreline at the three quarters stage.
Jamie O’Sullivan hit an early three but Moycullen young gun Cian Walsh put the game to bed with two of his own and in a low scoring quarter that really put the tin hat on it.

Eoin Carroll and Mark Sheehan battled away in the absence of Blackwell who now had four fouls and a hand injury to compound matters. The game petered out with Moycullen running out 65-47 winners.
At this stage of the season with nine wins from their fifteen games the Lakers find themselves exactly where they would want to be in the race for the play-offs.
It’s probably best to shelve this weekend and concentrate on their remaining fixtures starting with an away trip to Donegal to face Team North West. They sit with six wins, highlighted by a 90-81 win over the Dublin Lions, and so will provide the Lakers with a stern test for a bounce back. Tip-off this Saturday, February 5 in ATU Donegal is at 5.00pm.
Scorers: Mikah Blackwell 13, Abdul Oladipupo 12, Eoin Carroll eight, Mark Sheehan five, Jack O’Sullivan four, Jamie O’Sullivan three, Rui Saravia two.
Moycullen were best served by Grant Ollson with 24, Aitor Perez 17 and Cian Walsh with 10.
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