Meteors soar in final quarter to remain unbeaten
Mayo Meteors squad for the game against Phoenix Wolves.
Mayo Meteors had a nervy, tense and tight affair in De La Salle sports hall but a great run in the final quarter in crunch time secured a win for the Castlebar club. Their Belfast opponents Phoenix Wolves will feel hard done by and indeed with some better free-throw shooting we could have seen a different result on the night.
Mattie McHale opened the scoring for the home side with a layup and Paul Freeman made it 4-0 shortly after. Phoenix’s Ryan Berger replied after a turnover from Hermann Heyl, but a couple of McHale free-throws kept the home side four in front.
The visitors star performer Adam Czuprak used the backboard for his first of many scores at the hoop, and used a hop-step through the defence to tie. Heyl tipped an offensive rebound in, and Berger swiftly replied with a mid-range jumpshot. McHale and Heyl continued to score, while Czuprack and visiting point-guard Richard Berzins impressed as the first period ended all square, 18-18.
The away side started the second quarter better than the home side, Czupak got two straight layups before Freeman got one back with a spin move in the post. Vidamantas Kazlauskas earned his first score for the Wolves as James McGregor also got his to put them up by six points.
Freeman hit another hook shot as Meteors tried to reply, but Berger nailed a three-pointer on the move to increase the lead. A Heyl mid-range jumpshot answered back, with Freeman following with a layup and Alex Evans also laying one in off a great McHale pass inside.
Czuprak ended the mini-comeback with a score off a screen, but Mayo’s Alex Wright got himself on the scoresheet, before a great end to the quarter courtesy of a Heyl and-one layup that saw him convert the free throw with less than a minute and a half to go, followed by more Heyl free-throws and Paul Freeman scoring to end it as Meteors led by the bare minimum, 37-36, at half-time.
The teams would trade the lead plenty in the third period, a layup from Berzins got Wolves started but another McHale assist set up Wright’s three pointer. Phoenix hit one right back with Ernestes Genevicius and the teams traded free-throws so the Belfast side led by one. Freeman sank a jumpshot inside the three-point line, and Heyl scored through contact for an and-one layup, where he converted the free throw.
Berzins got his own three point play by draining his shot from beyond the arc, before Heyl reached into his bag of tricks to score a reverse layup in a tit-for-tat contest. Berzins did the same when his layup came off a crossover and a dummy, cutting the host’s lead to just one. Czuprak made two free throws so Phoenix took the lead, but McHale again made a tough finish at the basket. Evans and Wright helped end the quarter positively for Meteors who led 58-55.
Again, Phoenix started better with two Berger free-throws as deadeye McGregor shot another three down. Heyl tied the teams at 60 each with just nine minutes left. Paul Freeman floated one in on a post up, and Heyl grabbed one free-throw after he missed his first in the fourth quarter, and his first missed free-throw in the game. Wright made a score under the basket after a great find by Freeman, and a 7-0 scoring run saw Meteors lead by five with time ticking. Czuprak ended the run, but Freeman hit his first three to increase the lead to 68-62. Phoenix got it back to 70-69, but another 7-0 run courtesy of five from Mattie McHale sealed victory.
