Lions shock champions in League Cup quarter finals
DUBLIN Lions recorded a massive upset after they turned in a storming last quarter to beat league champions, Keane’s SuperValu Killorglin 97-91 in the Men’s Division One League Cup quarter-final in Kerry on Sunday.
The Clondalkin side amassed 33 points in the fourth quarter as they fought back from 50-39 down at the halftime break.
Dublin Lions Muhamed Sabic puts in a huge challenge
Huge scoring from Tomas Mikalauskas and Igor Markiewicz saw them run the floor down the stretch and with just under five minutes to play, they edged ahead and never looked back.
Eighth seed Lions were coming into this match against the Number One-ranked Killorglin on the back of a superb win over LYIT to qualify for the play-offs last week.
Yet they were still coming up against a side that had shipped only two defeats in the whole year and came out firing on all fours as Daniel Jokubaitis led the charge with a 34-point performance.
Markiewicz drew a couple of fouls to try and keep his team in it early on, yet the hosts had raced 26-13 in front by the end of the first quarter.
The second saw Mikalauskas (27 points, five rebounds and five assists) and Laimonas Jonaitis (12 points and 10 rebounds) put on a show, as the Lions battled to stay in touch.
After the break Markiewicz went to work snatching a double double with 24 points and 10 rebounds while Muhamed Sabič put up 16 points, 12 coming after the break.
Working hard
The visitors kept working hard on both ends of the floor and some big shots by Sabič and Mikalauskas helped them overtake.
Trailing by five points with 54 seconds left on the clock, Killorglin were forced to foul, and Mikalauskas iced the game on the free-throw line.
The home team also picked up a technical foul, which solidified the lead. Jokubaitis tried to hit a pair of clutch threes at the end, but they were off.
Having already made history getting to the play-offs, this Lions outfit want to keep it going and will face either Ballincollig or Kilkenny in the semis later on this week.
TAGS Sport
