Scott’s Lakers 66
Team North West 83
Enda Walshe reports
Killarney’s Scott’s Lakers finished the season with a sinking feeling as the sun set on their campaign in the north west corner of the country when they travelled to Donegal to meet the aptly named Team North West.
Having got themselves into the play-off conversation at the end of January, the Lakers were faced with a difficult run-in which included five away games and some taxing trips up the country.
To be successful it would have required a full squad effort but, unfortunately, for a myriad of reasons, they had to play with a lessened hand and this made an arduous task all the more difficult.
To be fair to the squad that played those games, they did their utmost and some end the season with their reputations enhanced and the experience, albeit tough, of playing on the national stage.
The trip to ATU Donegal encapsulated the Lakers’ end of season form. It was a game they had a grip on in the early stages but a costly period towards the end of the second quarter would prove to be their Waterloo. With the game competitive at 28-a-piece, the home side embarked on a 17-1 scoring run which ended up putting an improbable 16 points between the sides at half-time, the scoreboard reading 45-29.
Baskets from Eoin Carroll, Saravia and Jamie O’Sullivan clipped the deficit slightly but the terrible trio of Ganniclefft, Fierstein and Campos continued to torment. The two Jacks, Ferguson and O’Sullivan, attempted to arrest the slide but Andrew Deighan and Luke Cassidy kept the momentum going for the home side and little headway was made by the Lakers in the third quarter with the score at 65-41.
The fourth quarter started better, Senan O’Leary and Ferguson combining for a hat-trick of threes but Matthew Callaghan, Fierstein, Cassidy and Ganniclefft undid that good work with the score now at 75-52 with 5.08 left in the game.
The Lakers mounted a mini revival with Jamie O’Sullivan, Senan O’Leary and Ferguson hitting nine without reply. Not that the game was escaping them but Team North West called a timeout to stem the flow with the scoreboard reading 75-61. The remaining moments proved to be academic with Saravia and the O[Sullivans, Jamie and Jack, adding to the Lakers’ total. Fierstein and Campos succeeded in steering the North West ship home on a final score of 83-66.
Senan O’Leary was the Lakers’ top scorer with 17 points, Jack Ferguson had 13, Rui Saravia 11, Jack O’Sullivan 9, Jamie O’Sullivan 7, Mark Sheehan 6 and Eoin Carroll 3,
For Team North West John Fierstein had 24, Ryan Ganniclefft checked out with 21 and Ignacio Campos had 20.
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