A

ANOTHER home win could set the tone for a successful New Year for Scotts Lakers in National League: Division 1 basketball. Scotts Lakers will host EJ Sligo All-Stars at 3pm this Saturday, December 30, in Killarney Sports and Leisure Centre in the final game of the first phase of the 2017/18 Division 1 season. This fixture was initially supposed to be played two weeks ago but the away team were unable to travel due to adverse weather conditions.

The league will be divided into two in the New Year and both sides are already guaranteed to be playing in Division 1B when the competition restarts on January 13.

It has been an up-and-down year so far for the Lakers as they’ve struggled to find their rhythm in their first year back in the National League.

This home game against bottom-of-the-table Sligo should provide Cormac O’Donoghue’s team with a good opportunity to head into 2018 in positive form.

Sligo started the season strongly with wins over LIT and the Portlaoise Panthers but things began to fall apart when they lost heavily to Killorglin at the start of October. They haven’t won since.

Their current run of ten consecutive losses is the worst any team has had this season and has left them joint bottom with a points difference of -225.

This is the All-Stars’ second year back in the league but they sampled some success at the beginning of 2017 as they made it all the way to the final of the President’s Cup. They eventually lost to Cork kingpins Neptune, 97-85.

The Lakers will be gunning for some President’s Cup success of their own when they face Ballincollig in Cork on January 6. Their superb 85-92 win away to Fr Mathews in Cork sent them through to the semi-final and next weekend’s clash with Sligo will provide them with a good opportunity to prepare for their biggest game of the season to date.
 

 
Above: Antuan Bootle, Scotts Lakers St Paul's, scores a basket despite attention from Gary Walsh, David Murray and Darragh O'Sullivan, Neptune, in a recent National League Division One basketball clash in Killarney Sports and Leisure Centre. Pic: Eamonn Keogh