Notre Dame and Star extend run

The Superleague joint leaders Notre Dame and Star of the Sea extended their 100 per cent records in the league to five matches with victories on Saturday night just a week ahead of their first meeting in the campaign in Belfast next Sunday. Star defeated UCD Marian 9081 in Belfield on Saturday in a performance that owed more to hard work and persistence than it did to technical expertise. In contrast, Notre Dame's sequence of big margin victories continued as they blew away third placed Dungannon by 108-78.

Notre Dame's dominance of their opponents in their recent matches has been spectacular while Star have shown signs of frailty over the past fortnight in two narrow wins over Marian in cup and league. Although they led by 10 points at half-time on Saturday, Danny Fulton's men let that advantage dwindle away in the second half and in the last quarter, the Dublin side drew level at 57 each and again at 69 each with three minutes remaining. Then Star surged ahead 84-75 with 90 seconds to go but a three-pointer from Gary Edge for Marian and a lay-up from Ray O'Neill left just four points between the teams.

Scotty Summersgill made one free throw for Star to put them five ahead entering the final minute but within seconds, Edge had a chance to bring the deficit down to just a single score but missed two free throws from the line. From there on Star consolidated to win by a safe margin.

John Leahy was their best player and top scorer on 24, with Gareth McGuire's superb outside shooting and fast breaking taking him onto 21.

A few miles away, Notre Dame were having a much easier time of it against Dungannon. The powerful Tallaght-based squad effectively had the match won by half time as they led 60-33. Their final margin of victory was not at all flattering as they effectively ran their bench in the second period.

With Dungannon losing, there is now a three-way tie for second place which includes Ballina and St Vincent's who inflicted a fourth succcessive defeat on the troubled outgoing champions Neptune by 87-84 in Cork on Saturday.

While this was Neptune's best performance of the season, defeat leaves them firmly rooted to the bottom of the table with very little hope of retaining their title.

They were under severe pressure early on against St Vincent's who raced into a significant early lead (20-4) after only seven minutes. Neptune stemmed the bleeding but did little to reduce the deficit in the first half and trailed 50-36 at the interval.

However, their fightback began seriously after the break with the introduction of the experienced Tom O'Sullivan and Paul Kelly and it was a vintage crowd pleasing three-pointer from O'Sullivan which gave the Corkmen the lead for the first time in the game with over two mintues remaining at 8281.

But the impetus of the comeback was quickly halted as first, new American Tye Field was fouled out to be followed to the line by Ger Heaphy.

St Vincent's then regained the lead entering the final minute through a Karl Donnelly threepointer and as a number of refereeing decisions went against the Corkmen in the final 30 seconds, the match slipped away from them and the Dubliners held on for a narrow three point win.

Like St Vincent's, Ballina moved into a share of third place in the table as a result of a narrow victory, 81-77, against St Paul's Killarney. Liam McHale and Joseph McLean dominated the Mayo scoresheet with 27 points apiece.

Killester lost more than their home game when they were beaten 90-70 by Tralee. A ruptured achilles tendon suffered by their Canadian Andy Wilmot after just seven minutes effectively cost them the match and they must now also look to replace a player who had made a positive impact in the club in the early season.

In Division One, the league leaders Sligo, who have the best plus points difference in the National League, came from seven points behind at half-time to beat Tolka Rovers 102-75. Waterford remain their closest rivals after a 107-86 win over Tridents.

In the ESB Women's Division One, the vast inequalities that exist in the league were emphasised by Wildcats' huge 107-34 win over mid-table Limerick. Naomh Mhuire were also easy winners by 98-53 over Blarney while Meteors had plenty to spare in a 72-39 victory in Tralee.