First up on court was the U18 Girls who travelled with six players to take on Blaze. With only a short warm up after a long coach journey, Blaze took advantage to lead after the first period 17-11, with the Tigers starting to move the ball better by the end of the period. Blaze continued to set the pace in the second period and were able to extend their lead with an impressive second period display to lead 38-21. Tigers regrouped in the 3rd period and were magnificant as they started quickly and dominated the period, with much improved defence and offense orgnisation, restricting Blaze to just 7 points while scoring 19 of their own, with the period ending 45-40. Going into the fourth, it was Blaze turn to regroup and they scored three quick 3s to establish a 12 point gap and while the Tigers played a high press game, Blaze were able to hold on and take the win 66-59. It was a great fight back from the girls.

Next up with the U16 Boys who took on Blaze. Blaze started in dominate form, with fast breaks, superior height, great rebounds and quickly established their form to take a 23-2 after the first period. The boys worked hard in the second period, but were unable to make much impression on the game as a well organised Blaze team extended their lead to 44-10 at the end of the second. Into the 3rd, Tigers lost Jake to injury and Darragh to personal fouls, but the Tigers regrouped and dug deep to only lose the 3rd period by a 1pt, with Blaze leading 60-25. Blaze continued their form in the 4th to take the game 71-32 with surely better days ahead for this young Tigers team.

Tigers U14 next graced the court in what was the game of the day. This was a very tight game with only a few points in it through each period. Tigers got off to a good start to lead 10-7 at the end of the 1st. The second period followed a similar period to the 1st as both teams traded scores, with Tigers holding a narrow 13-12 at the end of the 2nd. Into the 3rd, the game scoring started to increased with Blaze taking the lead for the 1st time in the game and held a 23-22 lead at the end of the 3rd. Into the fourth, Tigers pushed and established a 32-29 lead with 32.2 seconds left with some nice passing and moving. But unbelievability, Blaze struck back with a 3pt to tie the game up, Tigers went back up the court and had two free throws to win the game, but the referee ruled that the free throw line had been broken and the game went into overtime. Both teams traded scores and Tigers held a narrow 39-37 lead with 56.7 sec left – tense nail biting stuff. Blaze turned it round and with 17.2 sec left, Blaze established a 3pt lead, 42-39 and took the game in dramatic fashion.

Location

Letterkenny