Dublin Raiders edge Mayo Meteors 83-78 to win BIDL Men’s Plate

Dublin Raiders defeated Mayo Meteors 83-78 to win the BIDL Men’s Plate and complete the BIDL Plate double for the Bray club, with their women’s side claiming the BIDL Women’s Plate earlier on Friday night at the National Basketball Arena.

This was a game of high quality, with nothing between the sides throughout, they were level at 28 apiece at the end of the first quarter. Game MVP Shane Davidson had a big opening quarter, grabbing half his side’s points for Dublin Raiders, while Hermann Hyle downed 13 for Mayo Meteors.

Shane Davidson takes free throw for Dublin Raiders during BIDL Men's Plate final at the National Basketball Arena

The second quarter followed a similar pattern, Mayo Meteors went ahead by seven points, 46-39, with just under three minutes to go, following Alex Evans’ three. But Dublin Raiders closed that gap to three, 50-47, by end of the quarter thanks to Andy Bartley’s jump shot with the last play of the half.

Paul Freeman, who won last year’s InsureMyHouse.ie National Cup with Maree last year, started to dictate play in the third quarter, his basket had Mayo Meteors 62-56 up with three and a half minutes to go in the third. Once again Dublin Raiders brought it back level, at 62-62, with two minutes to go, following back-to-back threes by Goderdzi Patsia. The Bray club would lead by six, 69-63, at the the end of the quarter, helped by a Davidson buzzer beating three. 

Paul Freeman in action for Mayo Meteors in BIDL Men's Plate Final at the National Basketball Arena 

But Mayo Meteors turned it around in the fourth, a three from Evans - his fifth of the day - four minutes into the fourth quarter brought his personal tally to 20 and they led 73-70. A minute later Mayo Meteors suffered a blow when they lost Hermann Heyl after he picked up his fifth foul, the former UCD Marian player with 20 points in the game.

Five points from Shane Byrne, either side of a Freeman basket, had Dublin Raiders marginally ahead 78-76, with four and a half minutes to go. With two minutes to go Mayo Meteors got within two points once more, trailing 80-78, following James McManamon’s basket. Dublin Raiders managed to prevent their opponents scoring after that, picking up some free throws while doing so, to round out an 83-78 win. 

Dublin Raiders head coach, Sean Ingle, said: “The lads pulled it out down the stretch, Mayo were unbelievable in the first half, hitting shots left, right and centre, so we spoke about it at half-time and concentrated on the defensive end, it’s been a problem for us all year, but we know we’re capable of locking in and getting stops and really that’s what got us the win in the end.”

Asked what completing the BIDL Plate double meant to Dublin Raiders, Ingle added: “They have been building the underage system for quite a while, a lot of the guys and girls had to go off, they never had a senior team to play for, and a lot had to go off to other clubs to get that senior level experience, play Super League, they all came back. These lads have worked their way up from Division 5 of DMBB all the way to Division 1 and now to get some silverware at the end of the season, it just means so much to the club and the fans.”

All games from National League finals weekend are live on basketballireland.tv, while you can watch ‘Super Sunday’ live on TG4 from 1345 on Sunday, with the MissQuote.ie Champions Trophy final between Pyrobel Killester and SETU Waterford Wildcats at 2pm, followed by the InsureMyVan.ie Super League final featuring Griffith College Éanna and Pyrobel Killester at 4.30pm. Live stats from every game on the Swish All Hoops App.

Dublin Raiders 83–78 Mayo Meteors

Quarter Scores: Q1: 28-28, Q2: 47-50, Q3: 69-63, Q4: 83-78

Dublin Raiders:

Neil Curran, Shane Davidson, Derek Bracken, Kevin O’Neill, Inarts Vitols, Ryan Pepper, Andy Bartley, Neil Doyle, Shane Byrne, Goderdzi Patsia, Brendan O’Neill

Head Coach: Sean Ingle  

Top Scorers: Shane Davidson 25, Goderdzi Patsia 19, Shane Byrne 18

Mayo Meteors:

Alex Evans, James McManamon, Dan Hyland, Stephen Crowley, Paul Freeman, Colin McNicholas, Hermann Heyl, Sean Fallon

Head Coach: Terry Kennedy

Top Scorers: Paul Freeman 22, Alex Evans and Herman Heyl (both 20)