Chaotic finish as Ireland edged out 92-91 by Armenia in Los Angeles

A chaotic finish to the Los Angeles International Basketball Cup saw Ireland just lose out to hosts Armenia 92-91 in the final of the invitational tournament on the west coast of the USA.  

Taiwo Badmus and Sean Flood both had chances beneath the basket to ensure Ireland would leave Crescenta Valley with some silverware, but tough interior defence from Armenia gave a partizan home crowd the ending they craved, despite Ireland leading by double-digits at one point in the contest.

A quick start by the boys in green saw John Carroll take a handoff from Badmus at the top of the key and hit his opening three for the first score of the game. Ireland added further evidence that the home side were in for a tough evening when Sean Flood drove to the basket left handed to make it 5-2 following the early exchanges. 

The sharp-shooting Armenian guards began to find their range at the midway point in the first, dragging them back to within three points before a fast break saw Alajiki push the ball to Carroll in the paint. He left a deft bounce pass to the trailing Badmus who took flight for a spectacular dunk that brought even opposition supporters to their feet and take the score to 18-13 with 2:20 to play in the first.

A 14-5 run for Mark Keenan’s side to 6:54 to play in the half brought Ireland’s lead to 14-points, 32-18 and the home crowd were beginning to get anxious. To their credit Armenia rallied from this point and would remarkably go into the half leading 43-42. Balian and Essegian couldn’t miss from range and continued to get to the line for and one opportunities. They also stiffened significantly on defence and only Badmus and Eamonn Joyce’s shooting from the line kept the scoreboard ticking for Ireland. 

The sheer volume of whistles on the defensive end began to tell for Ireland in the second half. Sam Alajiki, Keenan’s primary defender picked up his fourth foul early in the third, while Carroll, Matt Treacy and Rapolas Buivydas all sat on three at the same juncture. Despite all this, the game was tied at 66-66 entering the final quarter. The teams both enjoyed spells of outside shooting during the third, the aforementioned Treacy coming in to catch and shoot effectively, as Badmus, who had 14 points after 30-minutes, and Carroll kept up their assault on the lane. 

An epic game in Los Angeles 😮‍💨#Greenmeansgo ☘️ | #IrishBasketball pic.twitter.com/HURZWxUzgd

— Basketball Ireland (@BballIrl) June 24, 2024

It was entirely back and forth down the stretch. Ireland looked as if they were going to silence the 3,500 capacity crowd when Joyce and Alajiki worked a triangle to Adrian O’Sullivan for a corner three to put them up 83-77 with 3:42 remaining. A difficult series of events would unfold from here, however. Armenia’s leading scorer Andre Spight nailed a difficult three over Badmus, who had a foul called. Spight added the and one to bring the hosts to within two before a technical foul was called on John Carroll off the ball to end his night and give a huge advantage, 87-86 to Armenia with 1:41 on the clock.

Turnovers by Badmus and Treacy allowed that lead to extend to six points, 92-86 with just 31-ticks left in the contest. Ireland were down but not out though. A huge three by Treacy off a full court pass by Sean Flood gave them a chance to tie the game in the last 18 seconds. Flood held his nerve from the free-throw marker after being fouled on a jumper to reduce that advantage further to one and set up the grandstand finish, but it wasn’t to be for Ireland, who missed two chances to win the game on the final possession.

---

Quarter Scores:

Q1: 17-23, Q2: 26-19 Q3: 23-24, Q4: 26-25

Game Scores:

Q1: 17-23, Q2: 43-42, Q3: 66-66, Q4: 92-91

Ireland:

Adrian O’Sullivan, Sean Jenkins, Sean Flood, Conor Quinn, John Carroll, Rapolas Buivydas (0), James Gormley, Taiwo Badmus, Matt Treacy, Eamonn Joyce, Sam Alajiki