LEAGUE WIN!
A huge second half from the U20’s results in a victory over Sonics!
Full time score: Tolka Rovers 70-61 Dublin Sonics
Half-time score: Tolka 27-28 Sonics
Starting five: E.Faapito, E.Farrelly, L.O’Brien, S.Badejo, B.Curran
Top Scorers: E.Farrelly 22, B.Curran 12, L.O’Brien 9, E.Faapito 9, M.Kourouma 9
As Sam Badejo won the opening tip for Tolka, Point guard Elijah Faapito found Lorcan O’Brien immediately on the wing who attacked the basket aggressively and finished with a nice floater to open the scoring. Faapito was involved again in the next possession as he found big man Brian Curran underneath the basket with a beautiful bounce pass who finished with a layup. It seemed Tolka were going to have a strong first quarter after these first few possessions however good ball movement and hot shooting from Sonics led to the opposition taking an early lead. Sloppy turnovers, poor transition defence and easy missed baskets resulted in Sonics leading 20-14 after the first quarter.
As Kourouma entered the court, he brought his usual aggressive nature with him, constantly attacking the basket which resulted in some baskets including an acrobatic reverse layup. Brian Curran was a constant threat down low tonight , grabbing offensive rebounds and scoring from inside. Lorcan O’Brien had a strong and one finish as he took the ball aggressively to the basket and displayed great hang-time to finish over his defender .A strong defensive quarter from Tolka , giving up only 8 points resulted in the lead being cut down to 1 heading into the second half.
Heading into the second half , the lads knew that they had to pick up the intensity in order to get the win. Starting with defence , Tolka began to play more aggressively,communicate more and play better help defence which resulted in forced turnovers and shots. This laid the foundation for a massive run for Tolka in the quarter. Sam Badejo’s 3 pointer at the end of the shot clock created the momentum for Tolka that carried through for the rest of the game. Ethan Farelly exploded in the third quarter , scoring 15 of his 22 points in the quarter. Tolka showcased their offensive firepower as ball began to move around like a hot potato as the lads unselfishly began to look for the extra pass. As Elijah Faapito got a steal on defence, the ball was brought up on quickly in transition with a quick one-two pass with Ale Biffi and eventually Faapito found Farrelly underneath the basket for a layup. Subsequently , Biffi found Farrelly in the corner with a strong wrap around pass for a 3-pointer. In the next possession , Badejo found a wide open Kourouma on the wing who unselfishly passed to the hot hand , Farrelly who drained another 3-pointer. A 26 to 12 quarter resulted in Tolka having a comfortable leading heading into the 4th.
Maintaining the same lineup of Biffi, Faapito, Farrelly , Kourouma and Badejo, Tolka brought the momentum from the last quarter into the start of the 4th. Great ball movement was displayed once again as Faapito found a cutting Biffi who passed to a wide open Farrelly in the corner who knocked down his 4th 3-pointer of the game. Faapito ran the show offensively , getting himself some easy buckets from underneath the basket , constantly leading the fast break off his steals and rebounds and finding his teammates for easy baskets. He ended the night with 9 points , 5 rebounds , 9 assists and 6 steals , a splendid all around performance. Curran had a beautiful move in the post , as he spun his defender and finished with a splendid layup. Curran then proceeded to find O’Brien in the corner for a sweet jumper while James Castro later found Eoghan Dawson in the corner for a beautiful jumpshot. The cherry on the cake was Moustapha Kourouma’s layup off an inbound pass from Joseph Giltenane, as he stole Elijah Faapito’s signature move
With regards to Shaqtin-a-fool , a huge moment of laughter was seen at the end of the game as the lads looked like they were playing volleyball. A missed layup, proceeded by two airballed floaters , eventually Eoghan Dawson caught the ball and got fouled. Tragically , Eoghan Dawson lost his 100% field goal percentage as he got aggressively blocked on his jumpshot.
In conclusion it wasn’t the best performance from the U20’s although the stretch at the end of third , start of 4th quarter from Tolka was some of the best basketball played from the U20’s all year long and it was great to see all 12 players contributing ! All focus now turns to the National Cup semifinal this Sunday in Cork. The lads take on Maree in the Parochial Hall at 1:30pm. We hope to see as many supporters as possible! The game will also be streamed on basketballireland.tv!
