On Saturday past, Letterkenny Heat ran a preseason basketball tournament in the Aura Leisure Centre. Each team would play each other once in the group game, with the top two teams facing off in the final.
The first game of the day saw LYIT take on Kilkeel Knights, who are a strong physical team. The travelling team got off to the better start racing into a 13-5 lead, while it took LYIT time to settle into the game. Ger Murray and Padraig Barrett were working very hard in the post for the home side to try and get them back into it before it was too late. LYIT’s guards started to put more defensive pressure on their opponents resulting in numerous steals for Steve Cannon and Conor Boyle who turned them into easy fast-break points to give LYIT a 3-point lead at half time.
The second half would go basket for basket for most of the half, showing just how tough both teams were battling. The youth of LYIT appeared to make the difference in the end with superb performances from three young lads in particular – Seamus Hickey, Moe Ismail and Shaun Wogan who all had important scores and stops down the stretch. In the final seconds of the game, LYIT held on to win 59-55.
The second game saw both Letterkenny teams square off in the first derby game of the year. Both teams had good starts offensively, with Heat’s John Cronin and LYIT’s Seamus Hickey shooting well, and the game was close up until the last five minutes of the first half when LYIT opened up a 10-point lead at halftime through the fast-breaking combination of Steve Cannon and Shaun Wogan. Unfortunately for LYIT, two players went down with injury and were out for the remainder of the tournament, leaving the team with only six players to continue.
The second half saw Heat get into a rhythm with Kieran O’Neill catching fire from long range, while Ejder Akkoc scored on a couple of post moves. LYIT weathered the storm by putting on a full court press that caused their opponents trouble and they picked up easy baskets as a result. Heat appeared to be tiring coming in to the final moments of the game, and LYIT recognised this and kept pushing the ball up the court which helped them to a 70-52 win.
Blackstone Ballymena would face LYIT in their third game of the day and the last of the group games. Both teams needed to win in order to progress to the final, with the losing team being eliminated, so it was all to play for. LYIT were boosted by the addition of Conor Dorrian who landed at the right time to replace his injured teammates for this game. In his first senior game, the young 6”5 student had an MVP performance against one of the top teams in the Ulster League.
LYIT started the sharper in this game, with a superb defensive effort from Conor Boyle, Padraig Barrett and Steve Cannon. This defensive intensity led to transition points for the home side giving them an early 8-point lead. Shaun Wogan and Seamus Hickey punished them on the break time after time. Blackstone’s Adam Murray and Marty Mc Donald continued to fight hard and scored a couple baskets apiece to give their side a chance trailing by 7 at halftime.
Ballymena big man Sasha Pavlovic, standing at a towering 6”10, got two early scores for his team. Mark Cannon came off the bench for LYIT to give his side a lift and the team went on an 8-0 scoring run. Blackstone put on a full court press to try to unsettle the home side but they remained calm and broke the press every time. The aforementioned Conor Dorrian provided a huge defensive presence picking up numerous important blocks and rebounds, and he was rewarded on the other end with easy scores against their press. LYIT ran out winners 73-56, and were through to the final.
The top two teams of the day were LYIT and Kilkeel Knights so both would square off in the final, a rematch of the opening game of the day. With this being the fourth game of the day, both teams were tiring and the pace was a lot slower this time. It seemed as if this match went basket for basket the entire game because no team led by more than 3 points until the final minutes. Conor Boyle and Mark Cannon scored well in the first half for LYIT, getting to the basket and converting. Arunas for the Knights scored on a few nice spin moves to the basket. Halftime saw LYIT lead by 3-points.
With both teams evenly matched, fitness would be the big difference down the stretch it seemed and once again the younger legs of LYIT proved too much for the opponents. Pinpoint three-point shooting from Seamus Hickey and Steve Cannon in the final minutes gave LYIT a 7-point cushion. It was enough in the end because LYIT won 75-71 to be crowned champions of the Heat Preseason tournament 2011, picking up four wins out of four.
Thanks to Letterkenny Heat for organising the tournament, Aura for hosting it, and to our winners LYIT! This will give them confidence going into their first league game next week against reigning cup champions Dungannon Cavaliers.
ENDS
