Sport
Debutant Blackwell excels before Lakers get rained off

After waiting patiently all summer for the start of the new National League season to begin, Scotts Lakers and the Waterford Vikings were left frustrated on opening night as their fixture was called off with just 19 seconds to play.
The reason is not one you would expect to find at an indoor sporting event: rain. More specifically, rainwater was leaking through a vent in SETU College Hall and making its way onto the court. When Lakers player Shane Daly slipped on the wet floor with roughly three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, officials stopped the game and made attempts to fix the problem.
Unfortunately, the issue persisted and with the scores at Vikings 69-68 Lakers heading into the final 19 seconds, the match was abandoned in the interest of player safety.
The decision apparently angered the home team who were in a good position to take the W (they had possession and Aaron Jackson, the former Laker, was about to shoot two free throws). Proceedings ended with a heated exchange between both sets of players and coaches.
The Lakers now believe that according to league guidelines the points should be awarded to them as the Vikings were unable to provide an alternative home venue to finish the game. The Waterford club are unlikely to take such a ruling lying down.
The match itself ebbed and flowed with both sides racing ahead at different junctures before losing momentum and allowing the opposition to respond.
After losing their way a little in the second half, the away team battled back admirably and they would have been ahead in the closing seconds were it not for some poor free throw shooting on their part (they missed nine in total).
On the plus side, the young Irish players showed great tenacity and the performance of new US signing Mikah Blackwell was extremely encouraging. The versatile 6’6” two-way player scored in just about every way imaginable, from catch-and-shoot threes, to pull-up midrange jumpers, to close-range finishes in traffic…. There was even a put-back dunk and an alley-oop thrown in for good measure. He finished up with 42 points in a display that bodes well for the rest of the season.
Patrick Lanipekun chipped in with 12 points, Shane Daly had 7, Eoin Carroll had 4 and Rui Saraiva had 3.
Next up for Ron Howard’s men is the first home game of the campaign against newcomers the Tipperary Talons on Saturday. Tip-off at the Killarney Sports & Leisure Centre is at 7.30pm.
Elsewhere in Division One, the Killarney Cougars fell to a 98-77 defeat away to Titans BC with Kani Glover and Joshua Strongman combining for 52. The veteran Andrew Fitzgerald registered 15 points.
Patrick O’Regan’s team will be aiming to build on the positives from their season opener when they host Waterford Vikings in their first home game on Saturday at the Presentation Gym. Tip-off is at 7.30pm.
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