Moycullen basketballers have no answer to Demons

Date Published: 05-Jan-2012

MOYCULLEN basketballers came up against a red hot UCC Demons team who easily saw off the Westerners in Cork on Monday.

Fresh off a big derby win against local rivals Neptune during the Christmas period, the home side missed just three shots in the first period of play, leaving Moycullen somewhat shell shocked and chasing a 24 to 12 gap.

An in-form James Loughnane did his upmost to drag his team back into the game, contributing a season high 14 points in the contest by attacking the Demons’ basket aggressively.

Scores were hard to come by, however, as Demons’ 6ft 8 American Shawn Aputem made it difficult for Luke Enos to be as influential as he would have liked by preventing the ball reaching the hands of Moycullen’s top scorer.

While Moycullen battled on, Demons were in sparkling form and continued to turn good defence into free flowing scoring opportunities, ending the first half up 50 to 28.

From that point onwards, Moycullen were playing for pride as Demons continued in the second-half where they had left off, putting on a clinic of offensive basketball.

A squad blessed with a plethora of talent, the Cork outfit were able to bring a host of former youth internationals off the bench who never let the intensity drop as they made claims for further playing time.

Moycullen head coach Gerald Lyons also used the opportunity to experiment with different line-ups. It was his younger brother Patrick Lyons who caught the eye, putting in five points and running the offence with a maturity that belied his 16 years.

In the end, Moycullen lost on a scoreline of 88 to 65 and must now dust themselves off and prepare for their first home game of 2012 on Saturday when they face UL Eagles in NUIG at 4pm, earlier than was originally advertised.

Moycullen: L. Enos (17), J. Loughnane (14), C. Nihill (11), D. Cunningham (10), S. Camps (8), P. Lyons (5), M. Dowd, P. O’Brien, E. Maxwell, N. Cunningham, I. Burke.