Mayo basketballers Ballina Braves win again to advance in National Cup
Ballina Braves stay undefeated after winning their third match of the season out of three. It was a dominant win for the Mayo men at the end. Ballina finish the Preliminary Round of the National Cup with an impeccable record. As a reward, the Moysiders will face Division One top team Carrick Cruisers in Round One proper of the competition.
So far the return to the national stage has brought nothing but joy for basketball fans in Ballina and indeed the whole county.
Three wins out of three make brilliant reading. On Saturday afternoon, the men from North Mayo braved the elements of Storm Boelo, travelled to the far north and faced Team North West. usually based in Letterkenny, but this fixture was played in Derry.
Ballina got away on an impressive score line of 96-67. It was their highest score and also fewest points conceded in all three games so far.
But the team coached by Paul Barrett had a slow start though. Maybe still a bit of an aftermath of their last game in Athlone, where the Braves were a bit let down by their shooting efficiency and committed too many turnovers. They also still had to do without veteran player Ronan McGarrity who is expected back soon.
After the first quarter, the Mayo men found themselves down by 16-24. But in the second quarter they absolutely exploded. Their offense came to life. Joseph Owens had a fantastic performance all around. The pro player scored 21 points, had 14 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks. As per usual, he was the energetic and speedy focal point in Ballina's attacking play.
He was greatly helped this time by Mattie McHale, who had his best performance since returning to Ballina this summer. The son of legend Anthony McHale contributed 19 points, and shot reliably 5 from 6 three-pointers.
Ballina outscored Team North West in the second quarter by 39-16. And they never let their opponents back into the game. The third quarter was even better from a defensive point of view, as Ballina also won that period by a big margin: 23-9.
The game was fairly over as a contest by then, as the Mayo men had a comfortable 78-49 lead ahead of the last quarter.
Captain Mark Cunningham had a season high of 15 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists to his name. Youngster Theo Daly also had a season high score of 13 points.
All in all, further talent got a few minutes game time. Conor Burke, Conor Forkin, Cian Morrison as well as Joseph O’Boyle got their first minutes this season.
Next up are Carrick Cruisers. The match will be played on Saturday evening, on November 7, will be their biggest occasion in 15 years. The opponents Carrick Cruisers play in Division One, a league above Ballina. And the team based in Carrickmacross has won all four of their regular season games so far.