Prince rules as Fr Mathews spoil Athlone’s return

Basketball: Domino’s Super League Men’s Division 2

Arcadia Athlone 57 Fr Mathews 94

A dominant early performance from American player Prince Davies proved enough for Fr Mathews to see off a young Arcadia Athlone side in this National League season opener in Our Lady’s Bower on Sunday evening.

Athlone started the game brightly against an experienced Fr Mathews side with team captain Danny Mooney converting a long range three-pointer to reduce the Cork outfit's early four-point lead. Fr Mathews responded with scores from Cathal Dennehy and Prince Davies to take a 9-3 lead midway through the first quarter.

The crowd in attendance saw some nice moves and finishes from James Aboaba and Conor Murphy to give the Athlone side a 15-12 lead with three minutes to play in the quarter. Fr. Mathews finished the quarter the strongest, however, going on a 13-point run to end the quarter 25-15 ahead.

The start of the second quarter was a low scoring affair with Owen Connelly of Fr Mathews the only real difference between the sides, contributing an early five points. Conor Murphy responded for Arcadia Athlone by getting to the free throw line to convert for badly needed points for the home side. Aboaba kept Athlone in the game with some nice mid-range jump shooting to leave his side trailing by 16 at the half-time break, 28-44.

Fr Mathews came out for the third quarter with all guns blazing, putting up 30 points to Athlone’s nine, effectively putting the game to bed. Athlone’s offence stagnated at this stage, leading to multiple missed shots and costly turnovers that were expertly converted by a ruthless Fr Mathews team. The Cork side’s charge was led by Prince Davies, who finished the quarter with 11 points followed by Aleix Moreno with seven points.

The ray of light for Athlone came in the fourth quarter where underage graduates Danny Mooney and Adam Curley started to find their offensive rhythm combining for 16 of the team’s 20 points in this quarter. Curley’s defence also stood out bringing some much-needed energy to the side.

There was to be no late drama though as Fr Mathews managed to add 20 points of their own in the fourth quarter. Davies finished the game on 44 points for Fr Mathews, also claiming nine rebounds and making two assists.

The Athlone’s side relative inexperience at this level has proven costly in pre-season and in Round 1 of the National League. Arcadia Athlone’s young players will need to learn quickly from this encounter in terms of game management and executing offensively. Up next is a match against Dublin Raiders who comfortably defeated Trinity College in Round 1.

Scorers – Fr Mathews: Prince Davies 44; Aleix Moreno and Owen Connolly 11 each; Darko Burcan, Aaron O’Donovan and Ciaran Dennehy 6 each; Adam Connolly and Thomas Murphy 5 each. Arcadia Athlone: Danny Mooney and James Aboaba 17 each; Adam Curley 7; Conor Murphy 6; Camron Crichton 5; Aderinsola Adedeji 3; Rian Gaynor 2.