Max Cooper hailed the “character” of Belfast Star following their 92-87 victory over UCD Marian in the All-Ireland Super League at the Newforge Complex on Saturday night.
In a game where both sides had waves of dominance, Star managed to come out on top and Cooper was their MVP. But he also pointed to two big three-pointers from Paddy McGaharan with four minutes remaining when there was little between the sides.
Cooper chalked up stunning stats of 22 points and 13 rebounds, American Deondre Jackson had 18 points and seven rebounds while Max Richardson had 17 points and three rebounds.
At one stage, Star were 19-2 up but by half-time trailed 48-42. Marian’s Jonathan Jean was the game’s top scorer on 27 points and he, along with Lovre Tvrdic (25pts), were a constant thorn in the side of the Belfast men.
But Richardson and Jackson chipped away at Marian’s lead, and the American came up with a three to tie the game at 58-all with three minutes remaining of the third quarter.
Star took the lead after two free throws from Richardson and a Conor Quinn three gave them a 67-65 lead going into the final quarter. After a scrappy few minutes, Jean nudged the visitors in front before Jackson again tied it up and then McGaharan hit two threes followed by a basket from Aidan Quinn that gave Star a 79-74 lead.
Jean kept Marian in the fight until he fouled out with nine seconds remaining, but by then, Cooper and Conor Quinn had made sure of Star securing back-to-back victories. The only dispute was the scoreline as the home side insisted Marian had been given three extra points.
Cooper said: “To start the game off 19-2 up and then look up and see it’s a two-point game and then to go in at half-time behind by six, a lot of teams could have been done for at that point. But it just shows that we can get it done against the best teams in the League.
“We had that big win over Tralee and now we have gone and backed it up. No one can say anything about our character now. We have shown the character in this group of players now with these two wins. We’re a very tight group of players.
“Marian are a very good, well-coached team who came into this game with a very good record, so it’s another very good win, and what a great job from Paddy (McGaharan). He’s probably not getting the minutes he would like, but he came up two big baskets and I’d be grateful for that every week.”