Jackson stars as Drogheda Wolves reach Domino's MD1 National Cup Final

A stunning shooting performance from Vernon Jackson propelled Drogheda Wolves into the Domino’s MD1 National Cup Final, as they defeated a depleted Ulster University 87-74 at Parochial Hall on Saturday night.

Jackon sits 5^th in the race for the Domino’s Men’s Division One scoring title, but he outshone the current leader Prince Ebwea when the lights were brightest, hitting 44 points on 71% shooting from the field. 23 of those points came in the third quarter alone, proving to be the dagger in the Ulster challenge.

An evenly matched first half saw Ulster University enter the break with a slender 39-38 lead thanks to a Ben Hesnan corner three on the back of a Sean O’Donoghue drive and kick. Prior to that both teams had shown glimpses of what has them sitting with records of 9-3 and 8-4 respectively in Domino’s Men’s Division One. Both spaced the floor well, played tough defense and got the ball in the hands of their playmakers early in the shot clock.

Vernon Jackson was electric for Drogheda, scoring 15 points and taking on the assignment of guarding Darragh Ferguson defensively with enthusiasm. Ulster’s Price Ebwea had 36 points in the last meeting between the sides and he drew a double team on almost every possession. This allowed good looks to Hesnan, Odhran Callaghan-Hegarty and Ferguson, who was a driving force as the side from Jordanstown looked to keep the tempo high.

That gameplan was shredded by Jackson at the end of the third quarter. A 15-2 run to the buzzer increased Wolves’ lead to 20 points and left Ulster chasing scores entering the final 10 minutes.

Ulster have shown resiliency at every turn this season and that trait came to the fore once more down the stretch. Ferguson’s final three of the game, coupled with another Tom Kearney shot from downtown and further scores by O’Donoghue and Shane O’Connor cut the lead to 10 with 1:27 on the clock and gave them one last chance to put pressure on their opponents possession. With the game on the line though, some slick ball movement found a cutting Franiciszek Chmielecki at the basket and that flying lay-up ended any hope of a comeback from the small contingent of travelling Ulster fans.

Quarter Scores:

Q1: 19-18, Q2: 19-21 Q3: 31-15, Q4: 18-20

Game Scores:

Q1: 19-18, Q2: 38-39, Q3: 69-54, Q4: 87-74

Drogheda Wolves:

Dimitrios Theocharis, Cian Crowley, David Sedeno, Chima Obikwelu, Vernon Jackson, Thibault Njuguna, David Ademolu, Lukas Saltmeris, Thomas Smyth, Franiciszek Chmielecki, Simon Horkan, Francisco Cruz-Diaz.

Ulster University:

Max Postiglione, Sean O’Donoghue, Ben Hesnan, Odhran Callaghan-Hegarty, Prince Ebwea, Shane O’Connor, Darragh Ferguson, Ryan McGonnell, Ryan Kingi, Tom Kearney, Shariff Oke.