THE long journey home from Carlow on Saturday afternoon was far from a happy one for Killarney’s Scott’s Lakers who suffered a surprising defeat at the hands of IT Carlow who proved too slick, too strong and too determined for Cormac O’Donoghue’s charges.
At the final buzzer Carlow had registered a 93-85 victory and it set alarm bells ringing for Killarney who have now suffered two successive defeats following last weekend’s loss to table toppers Ballincollig.
Johnny McCarthy was the tormentor-in-chief, chipping in with 26 points, with Dylan Phelan also impressing, and although Killarney battled gamely – fighting back from a 20-point deficit at one stage – they didn’t have enough in the tank to trouble the home side.
Despite trailing for so long and being 56-36 adrift at half-time, Lakers were right back in it in the fourth quarter, when the gap was cut to three thanks mainly to the accuracy of Dalian Mason, but they couldn’t get on terms and Carlow held out for a very spirited win.
Surprisingly, Mason was the top scorer for Lakers on 22 with Dutchman Papito Hersisia on 19 and American Sean O’Brien just managing 11.
Carlow’s top scorers were Johnny McCarthy on 26, Brian Hogan with 14, Armands Vaikuls on 14 and Dylan Phelan on 12.
Lakers, who have now won five and lost two, are falling behind strong pacesetters Ballincollig and they will be hoping to hget back to winning ways straight away as they can scarcely afford any further slip-ups if they hope to make their mark this season.
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