Titans made it back-to-back U20 Men’s National League titles, following a 78-46 victory over Templeogue at the National Basketball Arena on Friday. The win for Galway side saw them complete the U20 National League and National Cup double. Declan Gbinigie claimed the MVP following his impressive 22-point performance.
Titans raced to an early 12-0 lead, following Declan Gbinigie’s basket. Kareem Matonmi’s long two point jump shot opened Templeogue’s account midway through the quarter, but they trailed 12-2 at that stage. Titans would lead 22-10 by the end of the first quarter, Declan Gbinigie helping himself to nine points in the quarter.
Templeogue started the second quarter with a James Janas basket, but they struggled thereafter, scoring just two points in the next eight minutes. A 10-point run had the Galway side 38-14 up with a minute and a half to go, following a Viktor Tashev free throw. Templeogue kept plugging away and finished the quarter with back-to-back scores from Keelan Murphy and Garreth Brady, to trail 38-18.
It is an U20 Titans side with real strength in depth, illustrated by the fact that their team featured five players who played in the recent Domino’s Men’s Division One Playoff semi-final win over Maree – Viktor Tashev, Fortune Igbokwe, Stephan Owede, Declan and Nathan Gbinigie. They didn’t show any signs of letting up in the third quarter when Declan Gbinigie downed a dunk to put them 42-20 up in the second minute.
Tom Sinnott drained a lovely three pointer for Templeogue to trail 44-25, only for Luka Mitchell to respond with a three of his own seconds later, just before the midpoint of the quarter. A driving layup from Mitchell finished off the quarter and had Titans 58-32 up and brought his tally to 12 points for the game at that stage.
Titans finished with a flourish in the final two minutes of the fourth quarter, with three’s from Michael Smyth and Mitchell, to close out an impressive 32-point win.
Speaking after the game, captain and final MVP Declan Gbinigie was asked about completing the double and he said: “It feels great, it is something we’ve had our eyes on since the start of the season, we knew we wanted to come out and show what we can do. We’ve worked so hard over the years, last year we won the league, so to go back-to-back in the league and go get the double as well. I think everybody showed up on the day, it was a great team performance and we were able to pull off a win.”
National League Finals Result
Friday, April 10th
U20 Men’s National League Final
Templeogue BC 46-78 Titans BC
National League Finals Fixtures
Saturday, April 11th
U18 Boys All-Ireland League Final
1000 | Oblates BC v Titans BC
BIDL Men’s Final
1215 | UCD Marian v Limerick Celtics
U18 Girls All-Ireland League Final
1430 | Gurranabraher Credit Union Brunell v Kilkenny Stars
Domino’s Women’s Division One Final
1745 | Cleveland Rockets v Limerick Celtics
Domino’s Men’s Division One Final
2015 | Limerick Sport Eagles v Titans BC
Sunday, April 12th
BIDL Women’s Final
1000 | Fr. Mathews v Claregalway BC
Domino’s Women’s Super League Final
1315 | UCC Glanmire v Trinity Meteors, Live on TG4
Domino’s Men’s Super League Final
1615 | Ballincollig BC v Killester BC, Live on TG4
