Blackstone are stung by Hornets

BLACKSTONE suffered a 60-57 defeat at the hands of Queens Hornets in last week's Ulster Premier League match.

The Ballymena side went into this game without starting point guard Harry McGarry and forward Peter McNicholl and this affected the Blackstone offence on the night.

McNicholl was tied up with work and McGarry has had a recurrence of last season’s shoulder injury.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The game saw Blackstone take an early lead as Adam Hillis and Arcadius Filipowski got space close in to make 4 points from jump shots.

Good work from John McAuley at the heart of the Blackstone zone was making penetration difficult for the Queen’s forwards.

Both Hillis and Filipowski shot 6 more points in the quarter to bring up 10 points but it was unimpressive as too often their patterns were not good and scoring chances were missed. Queens got Smyth and Magee in for close in scores and Eastwood and Garland shot threes to open a 14 -10 lead.

The second quarter saw the Blackstone put an impressive 15 point run on the board as their penetration off the ball was getting guards Gillan and McDonald into good scoring positions.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

McAuley and Filipowski were strong in the key turning their markers for 4 points to power up and set in. Queens were struggling as the Blackstone went man to man defence and it was their captain Andy Dolliver who shot 4 from the top to keep his team in contention. As the half closed the Blackstone had a 24–25 lead and was still not impressive in their offensive game.

The second half saw Queens improve but this was down to the Blackstone’s sloppy offence turning the ball from the point position and not running their offence.

Their defensive game lacked aggression giving the home team too much time to pick out passes and by not putting pressure on the cutters the game swung away from the visitors.

Blackstone lost both forwards John McAuley and Arcadius Filipowski with ankle injury and it exposed their rebounding game particularly on defence. Ryan Magee for Queens was to take advantage of this and shot 6 points from the low post after some poor defensive work against the big forward.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Paul Gillan retrieved the deficit with two from the free throw line after drawing the foul and then Barry McCormick made his first three of the game to leave the score at 42–38 at the quarter close.

In the fourth it was a case of the Blackstone having to press full court to get the game back. Initially they made inroads closing the gap to one point as Queens turned the ball McCormick and McDonald had lay ups to score.

Michael followed this with a three pointer his first of the game and Aaron Brown went full court to set in at 50–50. Queens broke the Blackstone press with two full court passes that should have been dealt with and allowed the home team off the hook.

They maintained this lead to the end despite three pointers from Dean Hillis and Michael McDonald. Paul Gillan and Michael McDonald had three pointers run round the rim and come out in the closing seconds after good defensive pressure to steal the ball.

ULSTER DIVISION ONE

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Blackstone II 87, Dungannon CBC 90: On Thursday, Blackstone had an outstanding performance against a fast and powerful Dungannon Lithuanian team.

The opening quarter saw the Blackstone open a 31 to 16 lead with impressive inside play from the promising centre Michael Murray who had a game high of 16 points.

Dean Hillis and Aaron Brown caught the visitors on the break for 10 points and Michael McDonald shot two threes to close a very impressive opening quarter.

In the second phase Dungannon bounced back as the Blackstone struggled to contain the visitors inside supremacy. They were a bigger and more powerful rebounding team and it was difficult for the youthful Blackstone back row of Brown and Murray to contain their strength. The lead quickly disintegrated and by half time the Dungannon team led by two at 48–50.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

In the second half both teams went basket for basket shooting 22 points each. The Blackstone regained their composure and found their scores through Brown and Hillis on the break. Both players top scored with 21 and 17 points respectively on the night.

The visitors found a string of three pointers to keep them in the contest and tied the game at 72 each going into the last quarter.

Again the game was finely balanced. Michael Murray shot three scores on the trot from inside the key and Hillis and Brown went close with lay ups that might have seen the home team to victory.

As it was, the visitors held out to win as their top scorers Grivickus and Asmbonas made a string of scores to close the game.

Related topics: