Aquinas players selected to Ulster teams
 
Aquinas will be well represented in Dublin on Sunday when Ulster competes in the inter-area basketball championships in the National Arena.

Ben Scullion and Caolan McWilliams will form the backbone of the U14 team.

Rory McCormick, Emmet Loughrey, Ben Horner and Conall Devlin have been selected as part of a 12 man team for the U16 competition. 

Conor Lilly, who played in the 2003 U19 All-Ireland final for Aquinas is also assistant coach.

Joe Burns will travel as part of the U18 Ulster team but remains an injury doubt.

On Monday the U19 team lost 58-43 to St Joseph’s Galway (in Galway) in the first round of the National Cup. 

The loss of Irish International Joe Burns (ankle injury) the previous week was a devastating blow to the team and made the task all the more difficult.  Burns who starred for Belfast Star in the National Cup in Killarney looks certain to miss the U18 inter-area tournament with Ulster in Dublin on Sunday and also Monday’s league game against St Malachy’s.

A poor start saw Aquinas 16-2 down after 10 minutes as things didn’t drop for sharpshooter Emmet Loughrey and captain Conal O’Neill.  An injury to Conall Devlin didn’t help matters but a 22 point deficit at half time was not insurmountable and 15 year old Ben Horner orchestrated some great baskets for Michael McAlister.  The last quarter saw Rory McCormick finding the target and Aquinas rallied bravely to reduce the deficit to a respectable scoreline. 

Last week the U19 and U16 basketball teams got their season off to a winning start against OLSPCK. 

The U19s had an easy 65-6 win which allowed Mr McAufield to utilise his whole bench.  Ciaran Ashe and Emmet Loughrey shot 5 three pointers between them with Rory McCormick also converting a number of fast break opportunities.  

The U16s (without team captain Ben Horner and centre Niall Dillon) also had a relatively easy 44-27 win with the ever improving Niall Magennis leading all scorers with 11 points.  The experience of Jack McConaghy and Ryan Magee proved telling in this encounter which will be vital as the season progresses.

However, the U16 s were brought back down to earth with a 59-49 defeat away to St Malachy’s the following day.  Despite dominating the game for long periods of time missed free throws (16 in total) were to prove costly as St Malachy’s gradually fought their way back into the game.  With 2 minutes to go in the 3rd quarter Niall Dillon picked up his fifth foul and had to leave the game allowing St Malachy’s to regain control of the offensive boards.  The Antrim road team edged ahead and despite the efforts of Ben Horner, Michael McGarry, Jack McConaghy and Ryan Magee Aquinas were unable to reduce the deficit in the closing stages.
On Monday (4pm) Aquinas have the unenviable task of playing reigning All-Ireland champions St Malachy’s in the U19 league while on Friday 19 October the U16s have a home game against Calasanctus Oranmore from Galway.  Tip off for this game is 1.45 in UUJ.