Just when it seemed like their form was slipping away at a crucial point of the ESB Superleague campaign, Star of the Sea placed themselves right back in the hunt for the title again with back-to-back victories in the space of just 20 hours over the weekend.
While the 106-85 victory over Limerick yesterday afternoon in Belfast was important, the convincing 93-81 home win over their main title rivals Waterford the previous evening was of near cuptie significance.
The victory not only ended Waterford's unbeaten run in 1999, but also ensured that if the two clubs finished tied on points at the top of the table at the end of the campaign then Star will be awarded the title on countback with two wins out of two over their southern rivals during the league season.
Even in defeat, though, Waterford are the only team who need not rely on other results to determine their destiny, as they have suffered four defeats in the campaign so far compared with five losses for Star and seven for the next nearest challengers. Waterford did not have to dwell too long on their experience in Belfast as they were back in winning mode yesterday with a workmanlike 88-79 win over bottom club Tolka, whose coach Mark Ingle had resigned before the game.
The momentum in the match on Saturday evening in Belfast between Star and Waterford swung one way then the other in the first half with Waterford ahead by eight points early on before Star came back to lead 50-49 at the interval.
In the third quarter, Star began to exert severe pressure on Waterford, utilising a variety of offensive strategies. With John Leahy scoring 14 points in the 10 minutes after half-time, the Northerners went into a 71-62 lead entering the final quarter.
Star remained on top at the start of the last period and went 15 clear before Waterford finally rallied to get the deficit back to six with five minutes remaining.
Star then edged back nine in front and once Waterford went past the team foul limit with 2.24 remaining, the outcome was inevitable.
The surprise result of the weekend was Dublin Bay Vikings' 7370 victory over Killester in a Dublin derby game in Clontarf.
Killester led for almost the entire game until Joey Haastrup gave DBV a 62-60 lead with two minutes remaining.
The match featured a superb performance from veteran Ed Randolph who ended up as the highest scorer in the game on 29 points.
Another struggling side, Sligo, won for the second week in a row beating Killarney 79-76. The Kerry club led for most of the game, with Sligo only taking the decisive lead in the final minute with a basket from Dave Weaver and two free throws from Pascal Bree.
Dungannon's convincing 10185 victory away to Marian featured another outstanding performance by the Tyrone club's fine Irish player Trevor Smullen who was the highest scorer in the game on 26.
There was also a fine scoring performance by Irish international Stephen McGuirk, who notched up 24 for St Vincent's in their 90-82 win over Notre Dame.
