Dundalk Ravens 90 - 71 Longford Torpedos

Dundalk Ravens recorded a great team performance on Saturday night to beat friendly rivals the Longford Torpedos. Longford where boosted with the return of John Ward from the US to partner his brother Jimmy in the attacking end for Longford. Though the Ravens where at full strength with two new additions in their ranks in DKIT rookie guard AJ O'Niel and Andrius Burba. Also playing his first game of the season was former underage star Aaron Lawless. 


In the first quarter the Torpedos showed their intend on winning the game by going eight points up in the first few minutes of the contest but the Ravens pulled back with some good team scores and individual scores from Mindi Savicius and Marius Jasiskas. Some strong rebounds by Andrius Burba and Darren McGovern set the Ravens on fast break which helped point guard Fu Faapito make some easy assists to others on the run. Though the fighting spirit of Longford led by point guard Mell McGirr never lay down and gave as good as they got on the offensive side. At the end of an exciting first quarter Longford led by 2 points.


In the second quarter the Ravens management gave AJ O'Neill his chance at point and he repaid this by scoring 9 quick fire points in the second quarter including a three pointer. The Ravens began to  play some excellent passing basketball and this made the Longford defense very tired quickly. Scores from Aaron Lawless and Mindi Savicius and great defensive rebounding from Andrius Burba ment the Ravens out scored Longford by 11 points in the quarter to go up 9 points at half time.


At the beginning of the third quarter the Torpedos changed from zone defense to man to man but this didnt stop the Ravens scoring easily at times with good scores coming from Darren McGovern, David Maguire and John Rafferty. The Torpedos continued to keep up with the Ravens and their leading scorer Jimmy Ward (31) excelled and scored at times when he wanted. At the end of the third the score was 65-56 to the Ravens.


In the forth quarter the Ravens quickly put the Longford outfit out of sight with some great fast break scores and long range shooting. The starters where given a rest and the younger Ravens took charge of the last 7 minutes of the game and showing some great maturity and the Ravens ran out victorious 90-71. This win ment the Ravens stayed top of the North East Regional League with 4 wins and 1 loss. Next up is a tough away trip to Mullingar Dragons on Friday night.


Team and Scorers


Darren McGovern (4)
Fu Faapito
Tada Nerbastias
Mindi Savicius (26)
Aaron Lawless (11)
David Maguire (14)
AJ O'Neil (11)
John Rafferty (2)
Mateusz Karpinski
Marius Jasikas (11)
Andrius Burba (8)

Ravens Players in DKIT Fresher Action

Freshers Tournament 2010

Pool Game 1

DKIT 42 - 37 Carlow IT

After a gruelling five hour journey to the University of Limerick on a very dangerous morning for travel due to the cold snap DKIT got off to a great start by winning their first pool game in a competitive encounter. Carlow IT where coming off the back of a defeat to the much fancied UL team so it was vital for DKIT to get of to a good start early in the first quarter and that was due to some great defense and excellent shooting from outside by Dundalk Ravens John Rafferty. DKIT strugged to maintain Carlow IT’s Kevin Donogue who was in fantastic form. Big rebounding by Steven Byatt and Conor Martin lead to good scores by AJ O’Neill. The third quarter was the quarter that sealed the win for the freshers with big threes by J Rafferty and AJ O’Neill. Also the defense played its part by holding Carlow to low scores thanks to David Cuddan and Artjouri Morozov. With four minutes to go DKIT where up 11 points. But Carlows impressive pressure defense quickly cut the lead to five. But the DKIT young lads managed to hold on for the excellant win.

Top Scorers

J Rafferty             19

AJ O’Neill             13

Pool Game 2

DKIT 19 - 49 UL

Next up was the tournament favourites and host University of Limerick. Boasting Irish internationals and superleague players this game was always going to be very much fancied. DKIT started well with two threes from J Rafferty and AJ O’Neill but these good scores soon dried up as UL’s defense was very impressive. DKIT coach decided very early in the game to not concentrate on winning the game but to use it as a training exercise to get others involved and the team responded. Eugen Martens and Eoghan Ryan where excellant on defense from the bench and well run offenses made sure that DKIT would know what to do later against Trinity College. One point i will mention in this game was in the third quarter when John Rafferty got dunked on!

Top Scorers

J Rafferty             6

AJ O’Neill             5

Pool Game 3

DKIT 50 – 38 Trinity

In the third game of the day DKIT beat Trinity to go into the A semi final while the losers went into the Plate semi final. An impressive start saw DKIT go up six in the fist quarter through some impressive shooting by point guard AJ O’Neill. The full panel played their part in the win with scores coming from a great team performance overall. A Morozov finally got into a game offensively getting 8 points on the forth quarter and Steven Byatt hit some nice shots also in the win. This secured a semi final spot agianst DCU the following day.

Top Scorers

AJ O’Neill             16

J Rafferty             13

Freshers Semi Final

DKIT 32 – 54 DCU

After the celebrations of the night before DKIT got back to business with their first cup final in the freshers history. At the beginning of the game DKIT would have to deal with an excellant DCU individual team. Big threes from D O Keeffe and Kevin O Hanlon pulled DCU into a comanding first quarter lead but the DKIT lads never stopped fighting. DKIT switched from zone defense to man to man to stop the three point shooting by DCU and this helped DKIT get back into the game. Great scores by Rafferty and Morozov with great assists by O’Neill kept DKIT within touching distance. Though a very good DCU team where too much for DKIT in the end with DCU running out easy winners in the end. But this tournament was an excellant example of the progress DKIT can make with this freshers team for the Varsities in 2011.

Top Scorers

J Rafferty             12

AJ O’Neill             11

Killenkere 64-70 Dundalk Ravens

Dundalk Ravens recorded the first away win at Killinkere in Cavan on Sunday the 14th
November beating the home side 70 points to Killinkeres 64. The first quarter
Killinkere outscored the Ravens by 27 to 20 with some good scores from JB Smith
and S Griffith. Ravens managed to stay close to the home team with scores from M.
Saviclus and Liam Woods.

The second quarter the Ravens stepped up a gear, outscoring Killinkere by 16 points to 10 to
narrow the gap to just one point going into half time. The Ravens strengthened their
defence with some good subs. The second quarter was tight but scores from S Byatt
kept the momentum going.

The Ravens kept the pressure on into the third quarter again outscoring the home
team by 17 points to 15 to take the lead by just one point. Killinkere began to tire in
the third quarter and the Ravens took big advantage of this with some fast breaks and
well executed scores from M Saviclus to increase the lead.

The fourth quarter is where the Ravens dominated. Again as Killinkere were tiring
fast the Ravens outscored them by 17 points to 12 and eventually won the game. David
Maguire came up with some good scores in this quarter. Some good fast breaks together
with some good defence for the Ravens payed off in the end.

Scorers:
Ravens
M Saviclus 29
D Maguire 7
A Burba 7
C Murray 6
L Woods 5
F Faapito 4

Killinkere
S Griffith 15
G Vilimas 22
M Flynn 9

DKIT 63-57 RCSI (Royal College of Surgeons)

Dundalk IT got their first win of the season over a tough RCSI team. DKIT welcomed back DCU Saints superleague player Kevin Lacey. The first quarter started off well for the home side with point guard AJ O'Neill and Lacey getting good scores on the board. Dundalk Ravens players John Rafferty and Ciaran Murray played some great defense to put DKIT up 5 at the end of the first quarter.

DKIT struggled in the second quarter only scoring eleven points to the fifteen of the Surgeons. Some good outside shooting by the Surgeons and some very poor defense from DKIT was the cause of the Surgeons getting back into the game. Two big threes from Lex and Rafferty helped fend off a RSCI attack. At half time it was 27-26 to DKIT and with the locals playing poorly this was positive as the Dundalk team knew they could play alot better!

The third quarter belonged to Kevin Lacey. He showed younger DKIT team how to score from every possible position. He scored 11 in all in the quarter and didn't forget any of his defensive duties in the mean time. Karl and C. Martin rebounded the ball well in this quarter to put the locals up 7 going into the final quarter.

The forth was not an impressive performance by the DKIT lads but they managed to battle it out to make sure they where in the driving seat. Lacey, O'Neill and Rafferty put in some great scores to help put the game out of reach from the Surgeons to finish 63-57

Coach Darren McGovern mentioned to the lads at the end of the game that their is alot more to come off this team and that has to start with training harder and making better decisions. After using ten players in the game DKIT will become better after this hard fought game. Next week the freshers travel to play in the colleges freshers tournament in UL and we wish them all the best in the tournament.

Top Scorers

DKIT

Kevin Lacey 27, Aj O'Neill 15, John Rafferty 9

RCSI

Brendan C. 20, Adam B. 17, Shanil S. 7

Dundalk Ravens 88-39 Kilnaleck Titans

Great team performance as Ravens cruise to victory


In front of a small crowd at Dundalk Sports Centre on Saturday evening the Ravens got off to a flying start going up 26-8 at the end of the first quarter with Darren McGovern scoring 14 of his 22 in the quarter. Some great steals and rebounds on the defensive end helped the Ravens score easy layups to gain a big advantage early in this game. The Kilnaleck Titans where made up of foreign nationals and where unable to cope with the early pressure put on them by the Raven guards of J. Rafferty and Tadas. Big rebounds by S. Byatt and L. Woods in the second quarter helped the Ravens again to establish a strong 53-16 half time lead.

The Ravens where missing possibly three starters to this team and the underaged lads stepped up very well and in particular C. Murray and J. Rafferty who finished with 14 each to their credit. The Ravens long term pg K. Keparutis made some great assists and also kept the offensive running smoothly.

Though to the Titans credit they did not give in and gave a valiant effort in the third quarter outscoring the Ravens 20-18. D. McGovern with 8 and C. Murray with 7 kept the Ravens going offensively in the third quarter but also the young guys from Dundalk need to be switched on all the time when they face stronger teams in the future.

The Ravens got to give their full squad equal minutes in this game and this was reflected in the the great team performance put into show by the lads. The forth quarter was again easy for the Ravens but we need to learn quick that all games wont be this easy, staring with an away game to Kilenkere next Sunday.

Team and Scorers

Darren McGovern (22),
Tadas. N (9)
John Rafferty (14)
Liam Woods (5)
David Maguire (13)
Kostas Keparutis (9)
Ciaran Murray (14)
John Loughlin (2)
Steven Byatt

Carrick-on-Shannon Cougars 80-67 Ravens

The Ravens senior mens team suffered their first loss of the season away to the Carrick Cougars. The Ravens traveled without a large proportion of their squad due to the absence of Darren McGovern (family commitments) Fu Faapito (coaching) and four players from the under 19 squad. Also missing was Ireland international Aaron Lawless who was back from Tralee on a study break only to fall ill before the game. Without these players the Ravens where certain to struggle but the players who did attend gave a great fight. Marius Iasiskis and Mindaugus Savicius again where on great scoring form with 20 points each and Tadas Narbistas scored 14. Though the Ravens needed a bench to help these guys maintain a threat all game long. Leading by two at the first quarter and down one at half time showed the Ravens that they can compete with the Cougars though the third and forth quarter the six guys got tired and eventually the Cougars ran out to win by 13 points.

Top Scorers

Ravens
M. Iasiskis   20
M. Savicius  20
T. Narbistas 14

Cougars
V. Griksas  28
M. Kalisz    22
A. Carr       19

Poor start for Ravens players with DKIT

DkIT 33-55 Tallaght IT

DkIT Mens basketball team started the season off with a poor home loss to Tallaght IT. The DkIT home squad had some new freshers starting for the club. Templeogue under age star AJ O’Neill starting at point guard and two Dundalk Ravens teammates Ciaran Murray and John Rafferty. They where complimented with two players from last years team in Kevin from China and Karl.

DkIT started off very poorly on the offense side and this translated into some poor defense at the other end. Quickly the team looked for a player who could score against a well organised Tallaght defense. AJ O’Neill hit a big three to kick start the team followed by another later from John Rafferty. Some great rebounding by Ciaran Murray kept the smaller in height DkIT team in the game in the first quater. Not to mention Kevin’s big three on the buzzer for the end of the quarter. Though the team struggled to maintain a strong Tallaght offense.

In the second quarter DkIT again struggled on the offensive side of things only scoring four points in the quarter. Tallaght raced out to a 25- 18 lead at half time. The DkIT had the feeling that they where still well in the game as they never started to play yet. The third quarter started brightly for the Dundalk club. Scores from Rafferty and O’Neill kept the team in touch. Though where things went wrong was when influencial defender Ciaran Murray had to leave from Fresher GAA duties. 

The Tallaght team capitalised on this and raced to over a 20 point lead until Ciaran returned due to his other game being cancelled! Subsititutes Conor Martin and Lex played well on the defensive end but the story of the game was the poor offensive showing by the team who have been showing great promise in training the last few weeks.

In the forth quarter and the game already escaped the coach decide to run the bench to finish out the game. The team put in great effort but it was not to be.

Scorers

DkIT                                                      Tallaght IT

Aj O’Neill             12                              Kirk                        19

John Rafferty           8                              Barry                       11

Karl                        4                              Gavin J                     9

Mens Team Training: Wednesdays 4-6 in the MPC. Open to team only, for a trial if you wish to play please contact Darren @ 0871330355

Mens Open Training for everyone: Tuesdays 6-7 In O’Fiach College

Ladies Training: Tuesdays 5-6

Check out some Ravens playing for DKIT

DKIT v Tallaght IT
Thursday 20th October
4.15 Tip Off


Check out some of the successful underage players from the Ravens at the first college game of the year. Players on show include John Rafferty, Ciaran Murray, Steven Byatt and Conor Martin.

Photos more to follow!!

Tip off at preseason tournament in Blayney

Runners up in the Blayney Tournament

Darren and Fu (haha)

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Dundalk Ravens 80-65 Savi BC

Dundalk Ravens 80          65 Savi BC

The senior mens team kicked off their season with a fantastic win against Savi BC. The Ravens where without a number of team regulars (Fu, Liam, Matusez and Kostas) due to other committments. With only seven players lined out they knew they would have to be smart and find a killer instint to win the game. They came out of the blocks quickly with two three pointers from Darren McGovern and two great plays from Marius to go up ten points after only three minutes of play.

A senior team debut start for under age star David Maguire saw him gain valuable experience of playing with the “big boys”. His defensive skills and speed proved tricky for the Savi team to combat. On the buzzer for the first quarter after a good fight back from Savi, Mindi hit a baseline turnaround three with two defenders on him to but the Ravens up 20-14.

The second quarter was very even and team Savi began to find themselves getting easier scores. With good point guard and an exceptional three point shooter, the Ravens needed a time out to address the situation. After that Mindi’s offensive and the team defensive took off leaving a half time score of 37-32 to the Ravens.

The third quarter began with a big three from Tadas our starting point guard for the game. Some excellent defense from John Rafferty say the Ravens deliver on the fast break points with all starters pitching in with some great plays to see the score 60-46 to the Ravens.

The key to winning the game in the third quarter was defense and the lads picked that up once again resulting in easy fast breaks. Savi put the pressure on but the Ravens with held that to record a comfortable victory in the end. Another note to mention was the debut of John Loughlin for the Ravens.

Top scorers:

Ravens                                                                 Savi

Mindi                    22                                           S. Kvedicras                        28

Marius                  20                                           E. Baliunas                           10

D McGovern      16                                             M. Pgskauskuas                     7