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IN NATIONAL League Basketball Division One, Scotts Lakers St Paul's Killarney will face Fr Mathews of Cork again this weekend in the quarterfinal of the President's National Cup in Coláiste Chríost Ri, Cork, on Sunday, December 3, at 3pm. Fr Mathews will be firm favourites after last week and home advantage is another boost to them.

Scotts Lakers will probably be without Padraig Lucey again for this one but they are still more than capable of matching up well against Mathews and getting the desired result.

It was a disappointing weekend for Scotts Lakers suffering a double defeat at home to Fr Mathews (Scotts Lakers St Paul’s Killarney 56, Fr Mathews Cork 67) and away to Paris Texas Kilkenny (Paris Texas Kilkenny 86, Scotts Lakers St Paul's Killarney 72). Like many of their outings so far this season, these were two more games that the Killarney side were more than capable of winning but they struggled to reproduce the great performance that they produced in last week's thrilling overtime win against Ulster Elks.

The Lakers were slightly under strength in both outings with the influential Padraig Lucey ruled out through injury while point guard Mihail Kapitanov picked up an injury on Saturday night and sat out Sunday's encounter.

It was a low-scoring drab encounter against Fr Mathews in Killarney Sports Centre on Saturday night where Lakers held the upper hand in the first half but a third quarter collapse contributed to their downfall and effectively handed the advantage to the Cork side. Just one basket from play and three free throws was the sum total the Lakers scored in this miserable third quarter and returns like that just aren't good enough to compete at this level.

Scotts Lakers started well and with Andrew Fitzgerald and Antuan Bootle leading the way, the home side were 15-13 in front at the end of the third quarter. A big three-pointer from Mark Greene kept them in front and the energetic Justin Tuason was outstanding at the end of the half to push Scotts Lakers 29-25 ahead at the break.

However the third quarter belonged to Fr Mathews with Paul O'Driscoll finding his form as they hit ten points without reply and the Cork side led 35-29 with four minutes left. Amazingly Lakers had yet to register a score at this stage in the third quarter. Two free throws from Bootle opened their account with 3.43 left in the quarter and it was over seven minutes of playing time before Andrew Fitzgerald netted the home side's first basket from play. Fr Mathews dominated under the boards and outscored Lakers 17-5 in this period to lead 42-34 as the game entered the final quarter.

Following Saturday night's defeat, Scotts Lakers were on the road early on Sunday morning for a lunchtime tip-off against Paris Texas Kilkenny. Still feeling the effects from the night before, the Lakers struggled to find their range early on and the home side led 29-9 at the end of the first quarter.
Scotts Lakers stepped it up in the second quarter but still trailed 44-35 at the interval break.
 

 
Above: Andrew Fitzgerald, Scotts Lakers, in action against Marcus Thomas and Barry Denieffe, Fr Mathews, in Killarney Sports Centre on Saturday night.
Pic: Eamonn Keogh