IT was a memorable weekend on the double for Kerry basketball with two major successes registered on the hard courts at a national level.
Keane’s SuperValu, Killorglin were crowned Men’s Division 1 champions as a result of their emphatic 90-68 on the road win over Fr Mathews of Cork while, in Killarney last night, Scott’s Lakers clinched the Division 1B title with an 87-81 victory over their nearest rivals, Paris Texas Kilkenny, in a dramatic winner-takes-all encounter.
The Killarney Sports and Leisure Centre was rocking as Cormac O’Donoghue’s Lakers took the game to the city slickers and, at the end of a pulsating encounter, they had registered a narrow but fully deserved six-points victory to get their hands on some silverware on their first season back in the national league.
There was precious little between the sides all through with Lakers trailing by a point, 43-44, at half time but they managed to keep their focus and they edged it when the encounter recommenced.
Big Antuan Bootle, as always, pointed the way with an impressive 32 points but Dailin Mason was also on form and he netted 20 points with local star Mark Greene on 12.
Taylor Young, on 32, was the high man for Kilkenny with Julian O’Keeffe and James Butler both on 15.
Killorglin, meanwhile, knew they had to win to avoid a play-off against Cork side Neptune and they did so in style with a 22-points hammering of St Matthews.
Although they just slightly edged the first half, head coach, Ignas Sijanus, had his side finely tuned for the crunch encounter with Ivan Bogdanovic hitting 21, Kevin Grey on 19 and Daragh Jones bagging 13.
Pictures: Konrad Paprocki. Click on individual images for details
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