Vincent's take revenge

BASKETBALL: St Vincent's took the opportunity to exact immediate revenge after two recent defeats at the hands of Ballina, overcoming their Northern Conference rivals by a nine-point margin on the road yesterday.

The weekend got off to an ideal start for the Dublin club when they blitzed through the challenge of Star of the Sea on Friday night. The margin of victory was 26 points, thanks mainly to the shooting prowess of Jermaine Turner, who finished with the second-highest individual points total of the weekend, 42.

Victory in Mayo was never going to be as comprehensive. Turner's scoring contribution was reduced significantly to 27 points, three fewer than Ballina's new recruit Patrick Pope.

However, captain David Donnelly was on hand to supply some home-grown inspiration in the fourth quarter, with his three-pointer giving St Vincent's a lead they refused to relinquish.

Ballina did carry heavy legs into the contest, having accounted for Shamrock Rovers Hoops on Saturday evening, when Pope was again inspirational with 40 points.

The top shooter of the weekend was the Hoops' Reuben Statum with 45 points in the same game.

In contrast, Star failed to build on last week's victory over UCD Marian, losing a second game of the weekend against the Killarney Lakers, 110 to 92.

Elsewhere, Killester, despite releasing an injured import this week and not replacing him, managed to overcome UCD Marian, whose season is now officially at a low ebb, 87 to 78.

The only other match saw UCC Demons overcome Cork rivals Neptune in the cup.

MEN'S SUPERLEAGUE: St Vincent's 93 Star of the Sea 67; UCD Marian 78 Killester 87; Ballina 120 Shamrock Rovers Hoops 111; Star of the Sea 92 Killarney Lakers 110; Ballina 100 Roma St Vincent's 109. SUPERLEAGUE CUP: UCC Demons 107 Neptune 85.

WOMEN'S SUPERLEAGUE: Meteors 62 Killester 76; Glanmire 79 Coolock 70; St Paul's 64 Oblate Dynamos 58.