Two wins from four games for Blackstone

Coach Paul McKee was annoyed at his team for the fundamental mistakes that were occurring through out the game particularly in the second and fourth quarter.

The Elks are a Super League club and for spells they were just too clever for the Blackstone. Faster passing and thinking enabled them to take advantage of any Blackstone lapses in concentration. Consistency was a major problem in the game for the Ballymena team.

In the opening quarter it was all Blackstone as they competed in every area on the court and they took full advantage of the momentum to push ahead 9–6. An opening three pointer from Paul Gillan and then a string of scores from Adam Hillis set the home team up for a deserved lead. Hillis was cutting through the middle of the defence to score then opening up on the wing to shoot the short jump shot. The Elks were hoping to upset the Blackstone with their press but it backfired as the big forward scored 4 without reply and gave an end of quarter lead 23–17.

The second quarter saw the Blackstone shoot only 8 points and the frustration was evident on the Blackstone bench as coach McKee watched his team disintegrate.

The turn around was complete by the half as the Blackstone failed to score inside and out for long spells and gave up some easy scores to the Elks through lack of concentration on the key shooters.

The second half saw a recovery by the Blackstone offence but the damage was done in the second quarter and would be difficult to repair. The Elks now led by 31–39 and the half opened strong for Peter McNicholl and Michael McDonald with two three pointers without reply from the visitors.

Blackstone were in their full court press and upset the flow of the Elks. O'Dornan kept the Elks on track with a three pointer and a tough drive to the basket to bring up the half century. The pressure was intense for the visitors and they gave up three turnovers to let in Paul Gillan and Adam Hillis for scores and this tied the game at 50–50. The remaining minutes of the quarter saw O'Dornan kill off his old club with three three-pointers on the trot without reply.

In the closing quarter again the Blackstone struggle for scores and the Elks maintained their average of 20 points per quarter. Gillan ad McNicholl made significant scores to keep the challenge alive but there was a lack of cutting edge about the Blackstone attack and this was not going to make an impact on the final score and victory for the visitors.

ULSTER DIVISION ONE

Craigavon Eagles 56, Blackstone II 63: Blackstone II pulled off a welcome victory in Division One last Friday night, travelling to Craigavon and stealing the game from the home team in the closing minutes.

In the first half they trailed 36–28 after a very low scoring first quarter. It took baskets from Shane Craig coming off the bench at the end of the first quarter to open up the Blackstone performance. The burly centre was on fire down on the low post making four scores on the trot to close the gap to 18–14.

Michael McDonald had a good spell shooting a three pointer and then went twice to the basket for a lay up and then drew the foul to shoot two from the free throw line.

In the third and fourth quarter it was a similar situation as the Blackstone made most of their scores from distance. The Eagles doubled up on the threat from Craig on the post so the Blackstone had to rely on the shooting of Aaron Brown and Michael McDonald to keep them in the game.

The game swung for the visitors in the fourth quarter as Dean Hillis applied pressure to steal and go full length and score twice. The speedy guard took full advantage of the tiring Eagles to break twice more and secure a victory with two more lay ups.

ULSTER U-19 LEAGUE

Andersonstown Tigers 38, Blackstone U-19 35: Blackstone travelled to Belfast on Wednesday to lose a low scoring game in which both teams struggled to take a significant lead for the first two quarters.

Blackstone worked the ball well but could not find their range or their up tempo game that gives them scores on the break. In the closing quarter, after trailing by eight points, they went to a press and could have stolen the victory in the closing seconds.

Blackstone U-19 88, Lisburn 86: Contrary to Wednesday game this contest was every thing that is good in basketball. It was high scoring and fast with both teams within reach of a victory right until the end.

Blackstone had four players in double figures Stephen Lyness (19) , Aaron Brown (14) and Dean Hillis(16) and Ryan McIlvenna with 22 points as top scorer.

Blackstone led at the half 49–40 but Lisburn came roaring back with a press and closed the gap to 61–60 at the end of the third quarter.

The fourth quarter was enthralling with Blackstone outscoring Lisburn 27–26. Key baskets from Ryan McIlvenna with tough lay-ups through the key and two three-pointers was decisive at critical points in the fourth period led the Blackstone to a well deserved victory.