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All-Ireland Premier League:
Fixtures, Results & Final Table 2013-14

Basketball Irealnd


Home Fixtures

All games 3.30pm in 
Methodist College

(* denotes Double-Header with Ulster Rockets who play at 1.00pm) 

Sun 6 Oct* 
Star vs Neptune

Sun 27 Oct
Star vs Moycullen

NATIONAL CUP 1st Rnd, 2nd Leg
Sat 16 Nov, 3.30pm
Star vs Killester


Sun 24 Nov*
Star vs Demons

Sun 15 Dec
Star vs UCD Marian

Sun 19 Jan*
Star vs DCU Saints

Sun 26 Jan
Star vs Templeogue

Sun 9 Feb*
Star vs Killester

Sun 23 Feb*
Star vs Limerick

Sun 9 Mar
Star vs Dublin Inter

Match Reports

Picture
Frank Otis turns away from Darren Townes of Neptune

Final Game deemed Walk Over

Star fans were unable to give the team a final 2013-14 Farewell and Thank You when our last home game of the season was deemed a Walk Over for us because of Dublin Inter's inability to travel on Sunday 9 March.

Very impressive win over UCD Marian

Sat 1 Mar: UCD Marian 85 Star 93   Going into this game, both sides were evenly matched. Both had recorded the same number of wins and more importantly had undergone very similar transitions this season. For UCD Marian their combination of new players and coach reflected the changes that Belfast Star were also making. Both had also recently enjoyed more winning success as them seem to settle under their new management.

Nonetheless, it was Star that pushed out the score on the night to see them claim 3 well deserved points.

Adrian Fulton, head coach of Belfast Star, said: “We are really pleased with our performance and the result of the game. It’s probably fair to say it’s the best we have been this season. We have played well before in games against Killester, for example, but we didn’t come out with the result like we did here.”

“It’s a pity we don’t have many games left to play. It feels as though we are just getting into the swing of playing. Overall though, our team has dramatically improved this season and it was in this game against UCD Marian that you can really notice the change.”

UCD Marian 85 (36) (C Meany 22, T King 15, E Chubb 12) Belfast Star 93 (44) (P Dick 22, F Otis 18, D Morira 16)

Important home win over Limerick

Sun 23 Feb: Star 78 - Limerick 54
Star have kept their Champions Trophy hopes alive  with an important home win over UL Eagles at home, 61 – 54.

The seven point victory not only keeps Star in the race for fourth, but also denied Eagles what could prove to be a crucial losing bonus point.

Leading early, Star were made to work hard for their victory as foul trouble affected both teams throughout and it was just a four point game at the half.

Eagles, missing their captain Neil Campbell, were perhaps the slightly shorter in terms of depth and with Delwan Graham one of the players in foul trouble, they were always struggling to stay with the home side.

Star’s tactic of trying to contain the penetration of influential Eagles guard Scott Kinevane was also paying dividends, resulting in the Belfast club being up by seven in the final seconds.

Following two big free throws from Paul Dick, they knew they had to prevent the three pointer in order to deprive Eagles of a losing bonus point and did just that, conceding a layup to win 61 – 54 and catapult themselves right back into contention for fourth.

“We knew that it would have to be three wins from three from here on out so that is one,” said Star head coach Adrian Fulton afterwards.

“We have actually played better this season and lost but at this stage of the season it was all about just getting the right result.”

Belfast Star 61 (37) (F Otis 15, P Dick 14, M Jackson 10) UL Eagles 54 (33) (S Kinevane 17, D Graham 15, E Quigley 7)
Picture
Paul Dick: top Irish-born scorer in 2013-14

Killester strength sees them home in Methody

Sun 9 Feb Star 78 Killester 89 An energetic start from a Star team that looked refreshed on the back of two straight wins saw them match in-form Killester more or less point for point in a first half that ebbed and flowed before a good crowd in Methody. Frank Otis was a constant thorn in the Killester side early in the game as was Dustan Moreira who served up an impressive series of blocks in addition to his 12 first half points. Three points down at the end of the first quarter, Star had edged ahead mid-way through the second only for Killester to hit back with 8 unanswered points and then another late surge before going in at the break 44-38 ahead. 

Killester then immediately stretched the lead to 11 at the beginning of the third with Michael Bonaparte giving the Star defence plenty to worry about. After a quiet first half, Paul Dick then led a Star resurgence that saw them whittle down a 13-point deficit to just 3 points with 6 minutes left in the game. The comeback was short-lived however as Isaac Westbrooks and Ciaran Roe stepped up to help drive the Dubliners well ahead again and go home with an 11-point winning margin. Top scorers for Star were Paul Dick on 23, Frank Otis on 20 and Dustan Moreira on 18. For the visitors Michael Bonaparte hit 26.

Picture
Liam Pettigrew making his Premier League debut

High scoring win in Galway

Sat 1 Feb. Moycullen 81 Star 97    Belfast Star secured their second straight win in the Men’s Premier League and moved to fourth place in the table with a high-scoring away win in Galway on Saturday.

Star had to contend with the sharp shooting of the league’s leading scorer Mike Callaghan early as the Connecticut native had 22 first half points that were a major reason for the slender three point gap between the sides at the break. With the greater strength in depth, however, Star eventually wore down a battling Moycullen side.

The win, which eventually came on a final scoreline of 81 – 97, will be welcome news to Star fans who learned during the week that head coach Jose Maria Berrocal was forced to return home to Spain due to family commitments.

Stepping into the breach for the remainder of the season will be Adrian Fulton, who was happy to see his first game in charge result in a win.

“Obviously, on behalf of the club and the team I’d like to thank Jose for all the work he did with this bunch and all of our teams in Star. He brought with him an amazing knowledge of the game that has benifited us hugely and will continue to benefit us.

“I was really pleased with how we played in this game with the change of coach and particularly with the number of players that contributed significantly.”

SSE Renewables Moycullen 81 (49) (M Callaghan 27, D Cunningham 27, P O’Brien 7) Belfast Star 97 (52) (P Dick 25, F Otis 21, D Moreira 18)

Picture
Paddy McGaharan: had some huge moments for Star during 2013-14

Victory over Templeogue secures first home win of 2014

Sun 26 Jan: Star 88 Templeogue 73    Star eased to a 15-point winning margin in Methody to overcome premier league rookies Templeogue. The home team raced away from the start with Paddy McGaharan quick off the mark. Templeogue's Luke Thompson inspired a comeback, though, which saw the Dublin men lead by two at the end of the first. Paul Dick and Frank Otis began to exert their dominance in the second, however, and fired Star into a 43-37 lead at the break. Dustan Moreira took control in the third and extended the home led even further. Indeed, 12 of the Spaniard's 16-point total came in the 3rd and 4th quarters before he fouled out with 2.40 remaining in the game. A feature of the game was the wide spread of scoring with only one home player of the twelve failing to notch up any points. Top scorers for Star were Otis on 18, Moreira on 16 and Dick on 11. For the visitors, Isaac Gordon hit 21, 9 of which came from free throws.
PictureFrank Otis makes a massive rejection against Moycullen


Disappointing to start to 2014 home campaign

Sun 19 Jan: Star 66 DCU Saints 70   Star's first home game of 2014 ended in a disappointing loss to DCU Saints who continued their good form of late. Having started brightly, the home side's performance dipped as the first half progressed. The turnover count grew and that - combined with poor shooting that saw us only covert 1 in 3 first half shots - led to DCU leading at the break by 29-25. By the end of the third the Eoin Darling-inspired DCU had extended that lead to 48-41. Both Paddy McGahern and Conor Quinn stepped up with 8 points apiece in the second half to inspire Star to close within two points of the visitors. However, with both Paul Dick and Frank Otis fouling out in the 4th, Star were unable to penetrate the Dublin defence. Top scorers for Star were Frank Otis on 13, Dustan Moriera on 12 and Conor Quinn on 10.

Star edged out in Cork thriller

Sat 4 Jan:  Bord Gais Neptune 86 Belfast Star 84   After a back and forth game that saw 16 points scored in the last two and a half minutes, home side Bord Gais Neptune emerged from the dust to claim a two point victory versus Belfast Star in Cork.

A tight one throughout, Neptune’s head coach Mark Scannell was relieved afterwards.“Star have a very good young team that is well run and they have no fear."

However, a frustrated Jose Maria Berrocal said he was disappointed with Star’s defensive display. “We are improving all the time which is good and we played well offensively but we played no defence. We also missed 14 free throws which is not good,” he said.

On the topic of the technical foul and difficulties he had with the referees during the game, Berrocal complained about what he felt like was “a lack of respect” for his team and style of coaching.

“I am very sad because I am proud of my players but I think we were shown a lack of respect. Both teams tried to do their best. We all train very hard to always get better and I don’t think everyone is doing that.”

Bord Gais Neptune 86 (40) (D Townes 30, M McGinn 12, G Walsh 12) Belfast Star 84 (44) (F Otis 19, M McKillop 17, P Dick 13)

Impressive win for Star in Dublin

Dublin Inter 58 Belfast Star 72
Sat 21 Dec: Tied on 11 league points apiece entering the game, Belfast Star emerged 58-72 victors over Dublin Inter Saturday night.

Led by 20 points from Paul Dick on over 50 per cent shooting from the field, Star simply outclassed Inter and led for the majority of the game, at times by as much as 25 points.

It was Star’s first win after four straight losses but head coach Jose Maria Berrocal never lost faith in his team’s talent level.

“We lost games but we were getting better all the time,” said Berrocal. “We fought hard for everything today and won but we played more or less as good as we did versus Demons and others,” added Berrocal, who went on to say he has been very happy with his players’ efforts despite recent results.

Inspired by the creative play of Paul Dick, Frank Otis and Dustan Moriera, Belfast Star can now look forward to challenging for a Champions Trophy spot in the New Year with four wins and two losing bonus points from the first half of the season.

Dublin Inter 58 (22) (M Tamusauskas 20, A Statkus 11, M Cepliauskas 7) Belfast Star 72 (38) (P Dick 18, F Otis 13, D Moriera 11)

Star fall to Marian

Sun 15 Dec: Star 60 UCD Marian 70   This was a high octane encounter right from the tip with both sides eager for a win to consolidate their league positions. 

Despite a very effective start, Star’s failure to build on their early momentum would ultimately cause their downfall. 

With Frank Otis in blistering form, Star maintained a 7-point lead for long periods of the first half. Otis was ably supported by Paul Dick and Dustan Moriera. 

Marian, however, came back into the game more in the second period, coinciding with Otis’s long spell on the bench. Indeed, at the half, the visitors had just nosed in front on a score of 35-37. 

The most disappointing aspect of the game, though, was that in the second half Star were only able to manage a total of 25 points. Otis again continued his good form, however, racking up 12 second half points to give him a game total of 26 – his best performance in a Star shirt. Dick finished on 16 and Moriera hit 10. For Marian, their American Terrance King top-scored on 19. 

Disappointing loss to Limerick

Eagles 74 Star 57 Star didn't bring their recent good form with them when they lost to reigning league champions UL Eagles in Limerick on Saturday night. 

Once again, early foul trouble disrupted Star's plans and both McKillop and Otis eventually fouled out. 

Paul Dick had a good second half, though, and once again was Star's top scorer on 20 points, ably supported by Dustan Moreira who had 11 points to his name.

Star edged out in thriller against Demons

Sun 24 Nov: Star 78 - Demons 83 For so long, it seemed that a certain home victory was on the cards in this Premier League game against unbeaten Demons. Star - with Dustan Moreira debuting - came out of the blocks with all guns blazing right from the start. Great defence and quick, decisive breaks kept the scoreboard rapidly ticking over in Star's favour and a lead of 47-36 was built up at the half. 

Going into the third, however, the introduction of Adrian O'Sullivan for the visitors kickstarted a Cork comeback and Star's lead was whittled to just 5 going into the final quarter. O'Sullivan gave the visitors the lead 2 minutes into the fourth, setting up a nail-biting finish in which the lead ebbed and flowed with the visitors just managing to get ahead and then keep their noses in front as the game wound down. 

Top scorers for Star were Paul Dick on 17 and both Michael McKillop and Dustan Moreira on 13. For the visitors, Lehmon Colbert hit 25, supported by Hosford on 13 and O'Sullivan on 10. 

National Cup exit for Star

Sat 16 Nov: National Cup: Star 61 Killester 78

There was National Cup pain for Star on Saturday night as visitors Killester put in a storming first quarter to put this first round/second leg tie beyond doubt. This game did not reflect the intensity of the first leg when league pace-setters Killester barely broke away from the young Star side, 83-80.

Jonathon Grennell, head coach of Killester said, “We are very satisfied with our performance in the second leg. Our team responded to the question Belfast Star asked last week with a gritty display. We didn't let up as we know Star are a team who do not quit.”

“Our senior guys were excellent tonight and led by example from start to finish. I have to mention Ciaran Roe's performance. Not many 20 year olds can produce a game of that quality in a pressure situation while relishing the challenge of containing Paul Dick.”

Belfast Star 61 (26) (F Otis 16, A Quinn 10, M McKillop 9) Killester 78 (41) (C Roe 24, M Bonaparte 18, J Behan 14)

Killester 83 Star 80: 
Late rally sets up tasty second leg of cup tie against Killester

09.11.2013   A late rally almost paid off for Star in this thrilling first round, first leg, of the National Cup in Dublin. 

An even first half saw Star trail 44-40 at the break. Then, after letting Killester pull away in the third quarter in last week's league game, Star once again took their foot off the gas and allowed the Dubliners to open a 21-point lead approaching the end of the third. 

A different Star emerged in the fourth, however, and relentlessly clawed back the deficit until in the final twelve seconds Paul Dick had an opportunity  to tie the game from the line. Only one point was made, though, and Killester added another two to leave everything to fight for going into next weekend's game. 

Paul was the game's highest scorer on 24. Frank hit 13 and Michael 10.

Star fall to Killester 

02.11.2013   After two away wins in Dublin on the trot, it proved to be third time unlucky for Star as they fell heavily to Killester on a scoreline of 87-63. 

In the first of three straight games between these two teams, Killester proved worthy of their favourites tag with a commanding 87 to 63 win over their northern counterparts.

The teams meet again next week in the first leg of round one of the Men’s National Cup, with the IWA in Clontarf once more hosting the game before the tie switches to Belfast for leg two.

All thoughts were squarely on league action at the weekend however as Killester’s win kept them apace with fellow undefeated side C&S UCC Demons.

Foul trouble to Star’s leading scorers Paul Dick and Frank Otis early in the game, spelled doom for the visitors who were up against a red-hot Killester team, welcoming back home a legend of the club, John Behan, who lined out for the first time in two years.

Killester 87 (44) (I Westbrooks 22, M Bonaparte 17, K O’Brien 10) Belfast Star 63 (39) (F Otis 19, P Dick 12, M McKillop 13)

Sun 27 Oct: Star 82 Moycullen 69

Not all scorelines tell the true story of a game - and that was the case in Methodist College today when Star defeated Moycullen on a scoreline of 82-69.

Without a doubt the Galway men will have gone home feeling that if only they could have lasted the full 40 minutes they might have recorded their first victory of the season.

However, after leading Star throughout most of the preceding three quarters, Moycullen fell away in the fourth as a much fitter Star side eased through to record a 13-point victory that really never felt more than a few points at best.

Quarter scores indicated how close the teams were for the first three quarters: 18-20, 39-42 and 66-63. 

Highlight of the game was two majestic performances - one from home man Paul Dick who scored 28 points, but more particularly the performance of Moycullen's Irish-sounding American Michael Callaghan who hit 37.

Unfortunately for Moycullen, most of Callaghan's tally came in the first half and he was unable to sustain the performance in the second. The rest of Moycullen's scoring came from Dylan Cunningham on 22, Eoghan Maxwell on 6 and Paul O'Brien on 4.


Star, on the other hand, were once again able to spread the scoring right down through the team. After Dick on 28 came Otis on 14, McKillop on 10, and both Conor and Aidan Quinn on 7 apiece.

Still, Star will consider themselves lucky to escape with a 13-point margin when it could have been so much closer. 

After the game, Star Coach Jose Maria Berrocal said: "In many ways it was a very disappointing performance from us. Still, when we can win when playing poorly it is a reasonably good sign. However, we must now focus over the week ahead for the challenge against Killester - we have many things that we can improve on."

Second successive win for Star on the road

Sat 19 Oct: Templeogue 62 Star 74    Commentators across the country have already remarked on the freshness to the Star team this year and this was particularly evident when Star made it two wins out of two on the road when they defeated Templeogue in Dublin on Saturday night. 

The game marked a remarkable performance from Paul Dick who contributed 30 points of the Star total while Conor Quinn delivered a very impressive 12 point haul. Further evidence of Star's youth policy came with the display of Liam Pettigrew who has also stepped up to top level league action for the first time.

After the game Jose Maria Berrocal said: “We played well for 30 minutes of the game but our aim for the next game is to play for the full 40 minutes.”

“I’m happy with the younger players like Conor Quinn and Liam Pettigrew as they are improving a lot. Although we are a young team and sometimes irregular all of our players have great desire to learn which is fantastic to see.” 

Star edged the first quarter 18-17 and stretched it to 33-26 at the break. They extended their lead to a 15-point margin at the start of the third before the home side narrowed it to just six via three three-pointers from danger man Conor James.

Star were not unduly worried however and with Dick and Quinn in superb form were able to pull away again in the fourth to win by 12. Frank Otis hit 9 for Star but found himself in foul trouble early on in the game and this restricted his court time significantly.

First Premier League win for Berrocol

Sat 12 Oct: DCU Saints 66 Star 78

Congratulations to Head Coach Berrocol on his first official win in Ireland after victory over DCU Saints in Dublin on a score of 78-66. Both he and Assistant Coach Adrian Fulton were delighted not just with the win but also the free-flowing manner of the victory. 

Coach Berrocol said: “We are a young team, and maybe not the best talent in the league, but we are playing tough and will only get better as the players learn my mentality better.

“I don’t know about finishing in the top half but we will be improving all the time and I think be better the second half of the season. This was a key game and we learned a lot, having a very good third quarter that probably was the winning of it.”

Adrian Fulton said: "The team really clicked tonight and had some great passages of play. We're also very pleased with the spread of scoring throughout the team. And of course it's great to win in Dublin knowing we go straight back there next week again to face Templeogue."

Top Star scores came from: P Dick 17, F Otis 16, C Johnson 11. For DCU it was: P Lynch 17, E Darling 14, A Markarenko 14.

Sun 6 Oct: Star 72 Neptune 75


In the opening Premier League game of the season, Star narrowly failed to serve up a debut win for new Head Coach Josep Maria Berracol. 

However, a surprise home victory against the reigning National Cup champs was certainly on the cards as the young Star team edged the first quarter 21-20 and then stretched the lead to 6 by the half, 47-41. 

Team captain Fearghal Toner in particular had a great first half, hitting 11. He was well supported by Conor Quinn who notched 7 while Neptune's Darren Townes had a stellar half with 16 to his name.

Star began the second half with great belief and indeed held Neptune scoreless for the first four minutes of the third period while extending their lead to 10 points. The visitors, however, were buoyed by a series of Star misses and finished the quarter strongly to be just two down going into the fourth on a score of 58-56.
An ongoing feature of the game was the bruising encounter in the paint between Star's Frank Otis and Darren Townes of Neptune with the Star man getting into foul trouble early on before finally fouling out with a minute to go.

This came after Michael McKillop fouled out with four minutes to go - just as the sides had begun to trade scores quickly as the game went down to the wire. Indeed the sides were tied three times in the last two minutes before the ageless Ger Noonan increased Neptune's lead to 4 with just 20 seconds left.

Paul Dick then reduced the margin to 2 with 11 seconds on the clock before Noonan responded, drawing a foul and sinking one of his free throws to leave the visitors 3 ahead and only 4 seconds on the clock. Forced into a long effort for a 3, Dick just failed to make it on the buzzer.

For Star, Frank Otis hit 17, Fearghal Toner 13 and Paul Dick 10. For the visitors Darren Downes scored 24, Ger Noonan 16 and Roy Downey 13.

Picture
Star's Premier League team - plus one!

First taste of competitive action in the Tayto International pre-season tournament

Belfast Star got last weekend's pre-season Tayto International Basketball Tournament underway on Friday night in La Salle when they defeated the very impressive SMAA of USA. The team was less fortunate in their very early starts on Saturday and Sunday however when they fell to Killester and Dublin Thunder. Still, it was a very useful outing ahead of the season opener against Neptune on Sunday and it gave coach Jose Berracol a good look at his roster in competitive action.

Away Fixtures

Sat 12 Oct, 7.00pm
@ DCU Saints
DCU Sports Complex

Sat 19 October, 7.00pm
@ Templeogue
Oblate Hall, Dublin

Sat 2 Nov, 8.00pm
@ Killester
Irish Wheelchair Assoc, Dublin

NATIONAL CUP 1st Rnd, 1st Leg
Sat 9 Nov, 8.00pm
@ Killester
Irish Wheelchair Assoc, Dublin


Sat 30 Nov, 7.30pm
@ UL Eagles
UL Arena, Limerick

Sat 28 Dec, 6.00pm
@ Dublin Inter
Mourneview Y&C, Dublin

Sat 4 Jan, 7.00pm
@ Neptune
Neptune Stadium, Cork

Sat 1 Feb, 6.30pm
@ Moycullen
NUIG Stadium, Galway

Sun 16 Feb, 3.30pm
@ UCC Demons
Mardyke Stadium, Cork

Sat 1 Mar, 7.00pm
@ UCD Marian
UCD Dublin


  


“Sometimes a player's greatest challenge is coming to grips with his role on the team.” 

Scottie Pippen


Belfast Star Basketball Club: Registered Charity No 893848-3-3
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