Newry Fliers 55 – 43 Lisburn Stars
Newry senior men made it two wins in a row on Monday night with a 12 point victory over the visiting Lisburn Stars. Ali Gorman led the way with a game high 28 in a game that was close until late in the 4th quarter. Due to the bad weather and injuries, Newry weren’t at full strength, but were able to welcome back Shaun Fearon from an ankle injury.
Newry started the game quite well with Ali Gorman laying down a marker early on with some nice inside baskets. Paul Crawley and Declan McGreevy also chipped in to give Newry a 4 point lead in a low scoring first quarter.
The second quarter was more free flowing with both teams finding their scoring touch. Again Gorman and Crawley were on the scoresheet with Nigel Murphy starting to make inroads under the basket against a big Lisburn frontcourt. Newry led 28 – 16 at the half.
The start of the third quarter belonged to Lisburn as they chipped away slowly at the Newry lead, but Newry dug deep and once again Gorman and Murphy scored some vital baskets. Decky Mathers also came up big at the end of the quarter and is showing real signs of improvement after being away from basketball for several years. Despite Lisburns push, Newry managed to steady the ship with Sean Brady playing a key role and led 40 – 31 going in to the last.
The final quarter opened with a trademark three pointer from Paul Crawley, but Lisburn were not finished. The visitors found three point range themselves and hit 2 in quick succession to cut the Newry lead to 6 points with only 3 minutes left, but once again Ali Gorman took charge scoring 8 points in the quarter to lead Newry to a 12 point victory.
Coach Paul Crawley was satisfied with the win that kept the momentum from last week going, but with some difficult away fixtures coming up in the next few weeks, there is still a lot of work to be done.
Team and Scorers: Alun Gorman 28, Paul Crawley 12, Nigel Murphy 8, Declan Mathers 5, Declan McGreevy 2, Sean Brady, Shaun Fearon, Paul Fleming, David Ruddy.
