Just 24 hours after flying in from Arizona, Ballina's new American, Joseph McLean, made a stunning debut to score 29 points in a 99-89 win over reigning Budweiser Superleague champions Neptune in Killala on Saturday night. It was Neptune's second defeat from their two outings in the campaign and already they are bottom of the table and seven points adrift of the joint leaders, Star of the Sea and Delta.

It was Ballina's first win from their three league outings and, from the evidence of McLean's performance and the contributions of Chris Doyal (27 points) and Liam McHale (20 pts), they now have a team that can embark on a lengthy cup run, which is the prime focus of their season.

Neptune are, on the other hand, far from settled and they will be looking to bring the experienced Gordon Fitzgerald and Tom O'Sullivan back to the squad sooner rather than later following their two opening defeats. They may also have to examine the form of their second American, Chris Ward, who disappointed for the second week in a row, scoring just 14.

Already the clear favourites in the title race are Star of the Sea and Delta after both won impressively over the weekend. Star were able to give their full squad of players extended court time in a facile 96-50 win over St Paul's Killarney yesterday in Belfast, while Delta defeated UCD Marian 80-60 in the Dublin derby.

The merit of Delta's victory can be judged by Marian's defeat of Neptune the previous week.

Newly-promoted Dungannon remain the surprise packets of the campaign so far and they gained another three valuable points in the quest to ensure their survival with an 83-78 win over Killester on Saturday night. Todd McNeal was the top scorer in the game on 25 for the Tyrone-men.

St Vincent's moved into joint third in the table with Dungannon following a 78-74 victory in Tralee in which their Irish-American, Dave Conlon, scored 24. Tralee's Roscoe Patterson followed his 47point, season-high performance of a week ago with a superb 36 points, but he got mediocre support from second American John L'Hereux, who scored just 10.

Coincidentally, three other players also scored 36 points over the weekend - Trent Forbes of Waterford, Lester Hunt of Limerick and Sligo's Terry Smith.

Waterford and Sligo remain joint leaders with 100 per cent records in Division One after victories over Limerick and Castleisland respectively.