‘We’ve been here before’
TEMPLEOGUE Men’s Basketball team head coach Mark Keenan has remained upbeat despite seeing his side suffer a poor run of three straight defeats.
After bowing out from the National Cup they won at the start of the year, the Reds have shipped two very narrow defeats against UCC Demons and, most recently, DCU Saints that have seen thm slip to second in the table, three points off Belfast Star.
Lorcan Murphy hit 12 points for Templeogue
“It’s just a dip in form where the confidence has been dinted that bit,” explained Keenan.
“We went to Cork last week and we didn’t play great, but we still could have won it.
“We were all up for bouncing back last weekend but it didn’t quite happen even though we were seven points up at halftime.
“We turned the ball over a hell of a lot in the second half and they really hurt us, but I think the second half of that match says it all.
“They won it 20-28 which is more like a one-quarter score rather that a half. We were just hit with crucial turnovers and we had mixed shooting although we still had the chance to win it with a couple of late free throws, but we didn’t make them. Those things can happen.
“But, look, we have been here before and we’re still four-and-two and right behind Star, but we really need to turn it around.
“We just need to make a few changes in terms of turnovers and concentration.
“The last two games we played have just had one point and three points in it at the end. If we had snuck those games we would have been feeling a lot better about the performances, but we didn’t.
“We have another tough match away to Killester this Saturday and hopefully we can get a result there,” he told The Echo.
The northsiders currently sit third in the table, level on points with Templeogue, and will be coming into this match on the back of a convincing 99-74 point victory over Moycullen in Clontarf last weekend.
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