Ireland make it two from two in Euro Championships
IRELAND men’s basketball team made it two from two in the FIBA European Championship for Small Countries following their emphatic 107-59 triumph over San Marino at the National Basketball Arena.
Heading into this match on their back of their 96-81 win over Andorra in their championship opener, Mark Keenan’s side hit the ground running against San Marino and raced 8-0 in front with just three minutes gone.
The opening quarter saw CJ Fulton and Jason Killeen register their first points of the tournament while Will Hanley chipped in with ten in the opening quarter as the hosts opened up a 34-9 lead by the close of that period.
A three-point jump shot by CJ Fulton figured among the highlights for Ireland in the second quarter as they pushed their advantage out to 37 points by halftime.
Using the break to regroup, San Marino tightened up on defence and outscored Ireland 23-21 in the third quarter, Ygor Biordi hitting seven points in that phase.
But Ireland could not be stopped and broke the century by way of a superb dunk by captain Killeen with just over three minutes remaining.
That was accompanied soon after by two sublime three pointers from Neil Randolph and Sean Flood, the former completing the rout for Ireland with a free throw at the end.
Delighted with the performance of his side, Ireland head coach Keenan said “I think the most pleasing thing was the manner in which we started the game.
“We talk about getting off to a good start, it generally doesn’t necessarily have to mean that we’re way ahead in the scoreboard, it’s just in the manner that we play.
“We came out with the right mentality and the right manner at the start of the game and then it was a great bonus to put the numbers up on the board. So the way we started, the intensity and the intent I thought was fantastic” he said.
There is a tournament rest day today before Ireland resume their campaign with a match against Gibraltar on Saturday at 7pm and finish off with a game against Malta on Sunday also at 7pm.
