Athlone’s National Cup home opener spoiled by Ballina Braves
Basketball: National Cup Preliminary Round 2
Athlone Basketball Club 69 Ballina Braves 78
It may have taken 40 years to have an Athlone men’s basketball team play a National League game in Athlone but what a treat the large crowd in Our Lady’s Bower got to witness last Sunday.
Ballina Braves came into the game off the back of a strong performance against Dublin Raiders, while Arcadia Athlone was coming off a disappointing performance against Team Northwest in Letterkenny.
There was no sign of the same performance from the Athlone men in this game as early scores were exchanged. Mark Cunningham opened the scoring with a corner three-pointer for Ballina. John Kennedy responded by getting to the free throw line early for Athlone. Both teams' professional players were to the fore with Athlone’s James Aboaba and Ballina’s Joseph Bryant Owens each contributing six points respectively.
It was Ballina who ended the quarter on the high note with an 8-0 run to end the quarter with an 18-9 lead.
The second quarter opened with renewed intensity from Athlone with James Aboaba and Derrick Allahyarian’s sharp shooting combining for eight quick points to reduce the deficit to four midway through the quarter. Athlone introduced Aderinsola Adedeji for his National League debut, and he quickly rewarded David Keogh's side with eight points.
But Ballina’s Miles Felletti made his presence known by closing the quarter with 12 points to extend the Mayo outfit’s lead to ten points at half-time.
The third quarter had the hometown crowd on the edge of their seats with some fantastic high-tempo basketball played by both sides. Joseph Bryant Owens and Mark Cunningham of Ballina drew first blood at the start of third quarter to extend the lead to 16 points.
With the game moving away from the hosts, Athlone captain Danny Mooney stepped up to make two big three-pointers along with two timely layups to reduce the deficit at the end of the quarter to just four points, perfectly setting up a tense final quarter.
The fourth quarter started with some fantastic defence by both sides and scoring opportunities were therefore limited with only eight points combined for both teams in the first five minutes.
Unfortunately for Athlone it was Ballina’s main threats who caught fire in the closing minutes with Ballina’s Bryant Owens and Felletti combining for 18 points in the quarter despite the best efforts of Athlone’s trio of Aboaba, Mooney and Allahyarian, who contributed 13 of their own to reduce the deficit. In the end, Ballina ran out deserving winners on a scoreline of 78-69.
Next up for Arcadia Athlone is their final pool game of the Preliminary Cup phase which will be another highly anticipated clash against fancied Dublin Raiders side on Friday week, October 23 at 8.30pm in Our Lady’s Bower.
Arcadia Athlone team & scorers: Danny Mooney (captain, 18), Keelan Martin, Derrick Allahyarian (13), Eimhinn Whelan, Cameron Crichton, Dylan Cosgrave, Raymond Omagbemi, James Aboaba (21), Mark Loonam, John Kennedy (3), Aderinsola Adedeji (14), Arturas Slunka.
Ballina Braves: Joseph O’Boyle, Darragh Burke, Theo Daly (2), Conor Forkin, Matthew McHale (1), Joseph Bryant Owens (26), Ronan O’Malley, Mark Cunningham (12), Ronan McGarrity, David Marrey (8), Brian Donohoe (1), Miles Felletti (28).