Star Of The Sea's expected victory over Tolka Rovers yesterday in Dublin leaves the Belfast team with the best record in the ESB Men's Super-league as all the main contenders reached or passed the half-way point of the season during a fragmented Christmas and New Year programme. With only two defeats from their opening 13 games, Star are now clear favourites to retain their title even though Waterford remain on top by a nominal margin after a narrow 70-68 victory over Killarney on Saturday night.
Waterford have played one more game than Star but have suffered one more defeat than the reigning champions.
They so nearly suffered their fourth defeat of the campaign at home on Saturday where they had to come from three points behind in the final minute against struggling Killarney.
The Kerry club led 68-65 with only 50 seconds left on the clock but Waterford held their nerve from the free-throw line and three from Eric Blair and two more from Roscoe Patterson took them to their 11th win from 14 games.
Star had it much easier against Tolka, but still had to work particularly hard in the final quarter to ensure victory.
The Belfast club led 34-18 after the first quarter and then relaxed as they ran their bench freely in the second quarter, after which Tolka had reduced the deficit to eight points.
The gap was further pared back to seven at the end of the third quarter, but when the difference was further cut to just five at the start of the fourth, Star increased their work-rate to eventually ease home.
Third-placed Killester remain just off the pace after a 75-66 win over Limerick in the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght on Saturday night.
With wins over Star of the Sea and Notre Dame to their credit this season, Limerick have been sneaking up to a comfortable mid-table position and have gained huge respect in the process.
Killester struggled in the opening two quarters and trailed by eight points after 10 minutes and were still behind 34-28 at the halftime break. From there on though Damon Shoultz and Mike Trimmer effectively turned around the match for the Dubliners who hauled back the deficit and went on to win by a clear nine points in a low-scoring game.
Limerick partly made up for that defeat by winning 111-95 at home to Dungannon yesterday. That was the second defeat for the Tyrone-men over the weekend as they lost 96-84 on Saturday evening against Notre Dame, for whom Calvin Morris scored a weekend-high of 38. The 1997 league champions, Neptune, suffered their fifth defeat of the campaign and one which might precipitate an end to their title challenge when they lost 70-67 to St Vincent's in Cork on Saturday night.
Neptune, who were missing Gordon Fitzgerald, trailed 36-31 at half-time and with one minute to go were still 68-61 adrift when their American Shawn Wilson hit a pair of stunning back-to-back `threes' to leave just a point between the sides. But St Vincent's held possession and were twice fouled in the final few seconds with Chris Doyal and Mark Keenan getting the free throws which took them to a narrow win.
The St Vincent's victory featured a superb 23 points off the bench by a back-to-form Stephen McGuirk.
Elsewhere, the league's top scorer, Dion Wingfied, scored 31 and Paco De Benito landed five three-pointers in a 91-75 win over Dublin Bay Vikings while in Belfield, Marian's Neville Charles played outstandingly and scored 23 points in a 112-94 win over Sligo.
Women's Super-league leaders Wildcats emphasised their dominance in the campaign by beating their main title rivals Meteors 8657 yesterday in Sandyford.
