TRALEE'S Ricardo Leonard scored a brilliant 48 points, including the winning basket, in a 91-90 victory over St Vincent's yesterday in the top Budweiser Superleague game of the weekend in Glasnevin.

With Star of the Sea remaining clear on top of the table after an incident filled 95-81 win over North Mon at the Maysfield Centre, Tralee's victory leaves them as the only team within immediate striking distance of the lead as St Vincent's, joint leaders three weeks ago, dropped four points off the pace into third place.

Tralee's doggedness in a game that St Vincent's threatened to win with ease, was admirable. In both halves, the Glasnevin side led by double figure margins, but the Kerrymen, inspired by Leonard's 28 points in the second period, finished the stronger.

The winning play came deep into the final minute, with the score at 90-88 in St Vincent's favour. With just seconds to go, Leonard scored an equalising basket but was fouled in the process by Stephen McGuirk. The American went to the free-throw line and made the extra one count to give Tralee victory by the barest of margins.

The scoring statistics in the match revealed a great deal. Tralee's concentration on curbing Rob Phelps worked superbly as the St Vincent's American scored only five points in the first half and just 20 points in total compared to the season high of 53 he racked up against Delta a week earlier.

Although the other St Vincent's American, Scott Sytulek compensated to a degree in scoring 39, the Tralee Americans Nigel Palmer and Leonard significantly outscored their opposite numbers 70-59.

It was not a great game for Irish players with the usually high scoring John Teehan for Tralee restricted to just seven points. Although Stephen McGuirk tallied 14 for St Vincent's. Karl Donnelly managed only seven before being fouled out before the end.

For the second time in a month, North Mon were involved in a match that was as notable fir the amount of technical fouls as it was for the result. Star of the Sea's 95-81 victory was expected and it kept them in a clear lead on top of the Superleague, but there were five technicals in the game, three of them against the Cork side.

With Javan Dupree in foul trouble early on, Star of the Sea relied on their strength in depth and by the end of the game they had five-players in double figures. Star led 44-40 at the interval and 27 points from their second American Gabe Jackson along with 14 from Gareth McGuire and 12 from Dubliner Paul Rigby, took them to a comfortable winning margin.

Two of the teams who have qualified for the cup semi-finals met in Cork where Neptune defeated Ballina 102-79. The game was notable for a fine 25 points from Neptune's guard Stephen McCarthy in contrast to the meagre six points scored by Ballina's usually high scoring Liam McHale.

Ballina remain on the bottom of the table although their prospects of survival in the top flight remain intact as second from bottom Dungannon lost 87-78 to Killester while third from bottom North Mon lost to Star.

In a mid-table match, St Paul's Killarney inflicted a heavy defeat on Delta 104-71. It was the second such reverse in a week for the Dubliners who play Ballina in the cup semi-final in a fortnight.

In the women's division one, there was no change near the top with the main contenders all winning with ease.