Newry Basketball Club

Oaks 61 v 38 Lisburn The Oaks Recruitment sponsored Newry team started their season in spectacular style with a 23 point win in Lisburn. Coach David McKeowns extensive pre season training program has the usually slow starting Newry team playing at a high level so early in the season.

From the off Newry were clearly the better team with Paul Crawley running the game at point guard and Nigel Murphy strong inside. Newry led 15 - 7 at the end of the first quarter and in the second they really pushed the tempo. Great scoring from Peter Clarke and Scott Rafferty as well as good defensive work from Rory O'Keefe meant that Newry outscored their hapless opponents 21 - 3 and lead 36 - 10 at half time.

Newry failed to keep this high tempo up in the second half and despite good play from youngsters John and Simon Ward, Newry failed to increase their lead by much going in to the final quarter 51 - 22 up. The final quarter had Newrys more experienced members on the floor with Collie McEvoy Peter O'Neill and newly returned Paul Woods all amongst the scorers. With the game almost over and Newry out of sight, Lisburn started to play a lot better and some sloppy defending by Newry allowed them to close the gap to 10 points at one stage. But Newry's old hands got the game under control again and a 3 pointer on the buzzer by Nigel Murphy sealed a 61 - 38 win.

Team and scorers:
Nigel Murphy 18,
Paul Crawley 11,
Peter Clarke 10,
Scott Rafferty 7,
Rory O'Keefe 4,
Colly Mc Evoy 4,
John Ward 4,
Peter O'Neill 3,
Paul Woods, Simon Ward