Garvey’s Tralee Warriors took another step towards securing a home League quarter final playoff with a 74-65 win over Team 360 Financial Killorglin at the Killorglin Sports Complex on Saturday night. Allied to C&S Neptune’s defeat to Tradehouse Central Ballincollig in Cork, it leaves the Warriors in prime position to host a quarter final playoff on the weekend of the 19th/20th of March
The vocal home crowd called for a final push early in the fourth quarter and their team duly obliged with Shane O’Connell and Francis cutting the gap to 12. A pull up two from Calixte and another arced effort from Jokubaitis looked to have restored order but Killorglin took off on a run that saw them shoot their way right back into the contest. Arriaga and player coach Declan Wall lifted the home crowd with two big threes and when Allan Thomas returned three from three from the free throw line and followed that up with another fast break score after Francis had batted in a rebound, the hosts had cut the Warriors lead to 66-62 with two minutes on the clock. However, just when a shock result looked likely, former Killorglin star Daniel Jokubaitis delivered two killer scores with identical threes to seal the win and bring the Warriors fans to their feet. Aaron Calixte’s two from two from the line late on added a little shine to the final scoreline of 74-65.
Top scorers:
Team 360 Financial Killorglin: Xavier Arriaga 17, Allan Thomas 10, Simon Francis 10
Garvey’s Tralee Warriors: Aaron Calixte 22, Nikola Roso 14 Daniel Jokubaitis 14
Next up for the Garvey’s Tralee Warriors is the final game of the regulation League season when they face a trip to Neptune Stadium to face C&S Neptune, the side they defeated to claim the Pat Duffy National Cup in Dublin in January on Saturday evening with tip off at 6.30pm.
