Our under 16 and under 19 B boys basketball teams travelled to Cork City on Monday morning to take on Coláiste Críost Rí in game two of the South League. First up was the under 16 game and what a game it turned out to be. The journey up must have been a factor in the first quarter as the Críost Rí boys finished it with a ten point lead at 13-3. Bantry gradually got into the game with Darragh Dullea and Shay O’ Mahoney hitting scores to keep them in touch going into the half time break. Danny O’ Donovan was excellent at point guard setting up many scores. Darragh O’ Shea and Christopher O’ Shea were beginning to get to grips with the rebounds at both ends while Thomas O’ Donoghue was defending incredibly well while also chipping in with scores. The third and fourth quarter were as exciting as you could wish for with both teams trading scores to keep it very tight going down the stretch. There were valuable contributions from Donnacha Murnane, Sean McCarthy, Stephen O’ Donovan, Colm French, Tom Fitzgerald and DJ O’ Brien. However this game was a game where a relative newcomer to Basketball, Thomas O’ Donoghue shone. Defensively he was rock solid, he rebounded brilliantly and scored a fantastic 17 points out of a total of 33 for the Bantry boys who came away with a fantastic one point win on a scoreline of 33-32. Special mention to the coaching trio of Oisín O’ Connor, Paddy Russell and Charlie Curran who did a brilliant job once again.
The under 19 game was next and again Críost Rí took an early lead that was substantial enough for the Bantry boys to be always chasing the game. Christopher Cronin, James Keane and Ollie Cronin made some great impacts that got the lads back within touching distance but the deficit proved too much to catch. Well done to Liam Hourihan on a great performance in his first game of basketball.
Thanks to Alice Flix Ferro and Ailbhe O’ Callaghan for reporting on the games.
On Friday our “A” teams are home to Coláiste Choilm. 
