Lisburn City Basketball Club

Basketball NI Chairman Eamon Brennan presents Alan Ferris with the 2007/2008 Senior Mens Premier MVP Award

Alan Ferris with his son and future MVP Jake Ferris

Alan Ferris of the Lisburn Scorpions picks up the MVP award for the League and also at club level. Alan has been at the heart of Lisburn Basketball for a long time now. He is a massive name in Northern Irish Basketball and well deserves this award.
Averaging over 26 points a game Alan is always there to get the game of to a scoring start and has worked hard on his defensive game making him more of a complete player. He is known for his fast pace pushing the wing and strong drives to the basket making him virtually unstoppable driving the lane. His season high came mid way through the season in a game against University of Ulster at home with a massive 40 point game.
Alan is without a doubt a strong player for Lisburn and has many years left before hanging his boots up be sure to watch out for him next year as he helps drive Lisburn towards there first National League Title !

Player Awards for the 2007/2008 Senior Mens Premier Season where presented to the following players:

1. MVP of Season - Alan Ferris

2. Offensive Player of the Year - Remigijus Saliamonis

3. Defensive Player of the Year - Imantus Sladkevicius

4. Most Improved Player of the Year - Marc Mulholland & Simon Davidson

5. 6th Man Award - John Savage

6. Player of the Year - Kevin Hughes

7. Best Newcomer of 07-08 - David Wilson

Lisburn City Basketball Club has continued to grow and has been very successful over the last 4 years, which was never more evident than this year when Lisburn entered 2No. Senior Mens Teams into the Premier League. From the outset both of these teams proved to be to strong for all the other clubs in the league and as a result they claimed both first and second places in the league.

Not only did Lisburn win the Premier League but they also claimed the Ulster Cup last weekend in Jordanstown University aganist a very strong Letterkenny Team.

As a result Lisburn are now going to throw their hat into the National League, which not only competes against Northern Teams but primarily covers the whole of Ireland.

The National League should prove to be an exciting test for Lisburn, so stay turned for updates !

                                                  (League Convenor Conor Lilly presents Robert with his award)

 Lisburn had 4 Players voted as 2007 Allstars between the Mens Premier and Division One Leagues.

The Lisburn Scorpions faced a confident UU (Jordanstown University) squad on Friday Night, in their second home game of the 07/08 Ulster Premier League. Both teams started well, however it was UU who opened up an early 8 point lead, lead by their Italian Point Guard Cittandini, who scored 8 of UU’s first quarter points. The Scorpions quickly bounced back and opened up a 4 point lead after Cittandini picked up a Technical Foul. Alan Ferris stepped to the line and knocked down 2 free throws leaving the Lisburn Squad leading the first quarter 19-15.
Going into the Second Quarter Lisburn started in a 2-3 zone defence, which UU found difficult to break down, resulting in forced shots and turnovers. Offensively the Scorpions turned to their forwards who seemed to be to strong for UU, who found themselves in early foul trouble after just 5 minutes of the second quarter. The Scorpions continued to play solid defence, which restricted UU to only 9 points in the Second Quarter. Lisburn continued to score inside lead by Noam Fishman and Mark Ferris, ending the second quarter with a 17 point lead 41-24.
The start of the third quarter saw a UU squad press the ball, however Lisburn where unphased and continued where they had left off at the end of the Second. Defensively Lisburn had a few lapses in concentration and allowed UU’s Steven Crothers to hit 7 unanswered points. UU started to find gaps in the Lisburn’s defence, however the third quarter saw each team trade baskets and ended 57-41 Lisburn up by 16.
Going into the Fourth the Scorpions showed great energy levels, hustling for every loose ball and playing aggressive defence. Offensively Lisburn put the ball into the hands of their American Noam Fishman, who continued to score and create plays for his team mates. At one stage UU did manage to reduce the Scorpions lead to 13, however The Scorpions quickly regained their composure and pushed the lead back out to 22 giving a final score of 72-50.

The Lisburn Scorpions tipped off their opening game of the 07/08 Ulster Premier League campaign with a home game hosting Northstar, on Friday Night. Both Lisburn and Northstar got off to a slow start, with both teams failing to covert on the offensive end. Northstar took the early initiative though and lead the Scorpions 10-2 before newly appointed head coach Eamon McAteer called a time-out to refocus his players. The time-out seemed to work as Lisburn came out a lot more aggressive on the defensive end which lead to Alan Ferris pushing the ball on the fast break and converting the next 8 points. As the first quarter came to an end, Lisburn where leading 13-11 before Northstars Daryl Harkin scored at the buzzer to leave the game tied 13-13. The Second Quarter saw the Scorpions grow in confidence, their new American signing Noam Fishman coming to life by attacking the offensive and defensive boards and finishing some impressive scores inside. Despite scores from North Star’s player/coach Feargal McCrory and debutant Ward, Lisburn raced out to a 15 point lead in the middle of the second, lead by some great shooting by Marc Mulholland, who was returning to play his first full season in the Premier League after a lengthy injury. Northstar managed to hold on and a fast break by McGowan followed by a deep 3 from Fergal Toner left the Derry team with a 10 point deficit at the half, 36-26 to the Scorpions.

The third quarter saw the Scorpions extend their lead to 20 points, and at one stage it looked as though the Scorpions where going to put a hugh score up on the Derry Squad as Northstar found themselves in foul trouble, however Northstar managed to stable the ship and the third quarter ended 63-44 to the Scorpions.

North Star came out for the forth quarter more aggressive on defense by pressing the ball, leading to some careless Lisburn turnovers, which where capitalized on by Fergal Toner who hit consecutive 3 pointers. Northstar battled throughout the fourth and did managed to close the gap to under 10 points, before Lisburn took control again and extended their lead back out to 18. Lisburn played out the last 3-4 minutes of the game, in control, which eventually lead to a final score of 76-58 to the Lisburn squad. New signings, John Savage, Gareth Tierney & Imantas Sladkevicius, all made their debuts for the Scorpions and all contributed with some great offense and defense, which ultimately lead to the Lisburn win.

Lisburn City Basketball Club have signed Hamilton College’s Mike Evans for the up and coming 2006/07 Ulster Basketball Premier League Season. The 6’1’’ Shooting Guard holds the 2004 record for scoring 6 three point field goals in one game and also the record for the highest 3 point percentage during the 2002-2005 seasons.

Mike will no doubt make a big impact on the Premier League

Lisburn’s Lagan Valley Leisureplex played host to some of the top teams from the Ulster Basketball League on

Saturday 16^th October. The 9 teams converged on the Leisureplex to take part in the annual Nicholas Collins

Memorial Basketball Tournament.

The teams where split into 2 groups where they competed against each other in the first round with the top 2

teams from each group progressing to the finals.

Group 1 consisted of teams such as the Ballyclare Royals, Belfast Storm, Bangor Mariners and the host team

the Lisburn Scorpions who had high hopes of success under their newly appointed coaches Brian Haggerty and

Mark Mullholland. It was clear from the outset that the Scorpions and Mariners would be competing for the top 2

spots in the group as they easily defeated the Storm and the Royals. The final group game saw an arrogant Mariners

team field a weak starting five against a fired up Scorpions squad. The first half saw the Scorpions take a substantial

lead with some nice baskets from Neil `Titch` Meehan and Joel Douglas, with five minutes to go in the second half

the Mariners decided that enough was enough and sub on what they considered to be their best players, however the

Scorpions were un-phased and continued to score eventually finishing with a 18 point lead and topping the group.

Group 2 also saw some very competitive games and some shock results. A very experienced Team Belfast squad

where convincingly defeated by the Lisburn Sting lead by their 6’6’’ centre Michael Potter and point guard Aaron Browne.

The recently promoted premier squad the Queens Eagles also suffered a defeat which resulted in them failing to reach

the semi-finals after they finished third behind the Ballymena Grouse and the two time tournament winners the Newry

Oaks.

The semi-finals saw the Scorpions drawn against the Grouse and from the whistle the Scorpions proved to be to strong

for the Grouse with some excellent defence from Kevin Hughes and Mike Fox and it was no surprise that the Scorpions

eventually finished with a 15 point lead and a place in the final. The other semi-final saw the Mariners go head to head

with the Oaks. The Mariners also proved to be to strong for the Oaks and raced out to an early lead in the first half.

The second half saw an Oaks squad give it their all and they began to reel in the Mariners, however it was all in-vane as

they where eventually beaten by the clock and the Mariners finished with a 10 point lead and their place in the final for a

showdown with the Scorpions

The final saw the Mariners field their strongest players hoping to gain revenge on the Scorpions for their earlier group

game defeat, however the Scorpions where not intimidated and immediately took a 9 point lead with baskets from Ian

Gould and Neil `Titch` Meehan in the first 2 minutes of the game. The Mariners where forced to call a time out to regroup,

however they where soon on the back foot again as Alan Ferris rattled off 11 unanswered points. The Mariners found the

Scorpions defence hard to break down with the inside presence of Mark Ferris and Simon Davidson who controlled the

defensive boards. The first half finished with the Scorpions leading by 15 points and although the Mariners

battled through the second half they where unable to stop the Scorpions from picking up the Nicholas Collins Memorial

Cup

Lisburn City Basketball Club would like to thank PDM Architects, Lisburn City Council and Tipperary Water for their support and sponsorship of the Nicholas Collins Memorial Basketball Tournament, which was a great success