Hall of Fame AAU Tournament Day 1

This morning started a little too early for the guys as the two Irish teams got off to a very slow start this morning in the tournament which was punished by their very competitive American opponents.

In the first game Ireland 2 who comprised of Ronan O'Sullivan, Jack Murphy, Shane O'Neill, Peter Herron, Stephen James, Davy O'Leary, Brendan Kiely, Neil Lynch and Adrian O'Sullivan, all really struggled to get into gear against CMAC. While the teams seemed pretty evenly matched the CMAC team just seemed to be a little bit better able to finish and developed an early lead in the first half which ended 27 - 19 in the Americans favour.

While the lads tried hard to get back in the game they were unable to eat into the lead. The game ended 55 - 44 in favour of CMAC. Leading Scorers: Adrian O'Sullivan 13 points, Jack Murphy 7 points, Ronan O'Sullivan 6 points.

Game 2 was less of contest despite some very promising play early on from Ireland 1(Adam McDonald, Barry Denieffe, Luke O'Mahony, Garrett Galvin, Ciaran Roe, David Connolly, Ciaran Devitt, Colm O'Hagan, Ben Horner) after falling behind 19-4 in the early going. This was followed by a 13-0 run which brought the team back to within striking distance before the wheels apparently came off and the CT Hoopstars closed out the half with a 36-21 lead.

The second half was no better despite the best efforts of the teams guards, Ben Horner, Dave Connolly and Garrett Galvin who scored 18 of the teams 20 points in the second half. The game ended 67-41 in favour of the CT Hoopstars. Leading Scorers: Garrett Galvin 13 points, Ben Horner 10 points, Ciaran Devitt 6 points.

In Game 3, Ireland 2 seemed to have gotten the boost that was missing in the early game and came out ready to play racing out to an early lead in the first half which ended 38-23 behind very strong play by Peter Herron and Shane O'Neill who scored 8 and 13 points respectively in the first half.

Despite a slightly less impressive second half the lads still held a comfortable lead all the way through the second half and closed the game out 60-42. Leading Scorers: Shane O'Neill 13 points, Adrian O'Sullivan 11 points, Peter Herron 8 points.

In what was probably the best game of basketball for the Irish guys today Game 4 matched Ireland 1 against City Rocks who are a highly rated AAU team from New York. The lads raced out to an early lead of 19 - 7 before being slowly pegged by the tough team from the Big Apple. The run by the American team continued up to half time when they led by 26-19 at the break.

In the second half it began to look like the City Rocks were beginning to get more comfortable and that there was a risk of them extending their lead further before some strong defence after switching to a 1-3-1 zone which disrupted the American offence and set up some good scores from Ben Horner, Garrett Galvin and Dave Connolly. With less that a minute to go Ireland 1 had it back to 3 points. Unfortunately, despite a great run they were unable to get over the end line and came up just short of a successful comeback. Final score was 47-42 in favour of the City Rocks. Leading Scorers: Garrett Galvin 20 points, Ben Horner 13 points, Barry Denieffe 4 points.

After the games the team were brought to an Irish American Club where they were graciously hosted and got the opportunity to hang out with their counterparts on the Under 18's Girls team. After a long day the group were back in the hotel relatively early so that they could get the opportunity to rest ahead of another couple of early games tomorrow.