“It’s a big win for us,” says Summers after Templeogue bounce back with a win

Black Amber Templeogue have struggled so far this season, after an opening day win over DCU Saints they then proceeded to lose the next 3 to Killester, Éanna and UCD Marian.

However, on Saturday night in the Oblate Hall in Inchicore they clinched a superb overtime win over a UCC Demons team that have been in great form to begin the season. 

Their top performer on the night was 5’9” American guard Lawrence ’Puff’ Summers. He scored 25 points on 50% shooting and was 7 of 8 from the free-throw line. He was ably assisted by Jason Killeen with 22 and Neil Randolph with 18.

It was a very big win for Templeogue and Head Coach Mark Keenan said, “It’s a big relief off the shoulders to get a win after the last few weeks. Fair play to the lads, we stuck more together tonight and came through it, so we’re delighted to get back to winning ways.”

We caught up with Summers after the game to get his reaction, “It was a big win for us. 3 losses in a row is enough to make doubt creep into even the most mentally tough teams, so it was important for us to stop that snowball from rolling in the wrong direction.”

We asked him if winning the game in overtime against a quality opponent felt extra special he said, “I mean, it was nice to win an overtime game, I guess. I would have much preferred to do it in regulation, and we were kicking ourselves a bit for not closing out a game that we led by 4 with about a minute to go. Demons were resilient though and capitalised on our silly mistakes. But, yes, winning in overtime was huge for us. Obviously it would've been easy to let that negativity from the last three losses creep in, so I was extremely proud of us for finishing what we had started on the night.”

He a good shooting night on the floor grabbing 25 points and we asked if he enjoyed it, “I did enjoy it. I got to coach the likes of Kyle Hosford and Adrian O'Sullivan (both of UCC Demons) on the senior Irish team (pictured above) last year, and I have a lot of respect for all of the high level guards here in Ireland. It's fun for me to compete man. Always fun. I scored well last night, but I think that's the beauty of our team. We have multiple guys who can produce on any given night. I happened to hit a few shots last night, which is always good.”

He also spoke a little on the team’s struggles this season and gave a good insight as to why that was, “We have had a slow start this year. I know we have the same core group back, but we're a different team. Losing a Paul Cummins will hurt any team. His confidence was contagious. Even when he was hurt last year, his voice on the bench was huge.”

“And then we lost other veteran guys like Ben Warrington, Al O'Neil, and Ronan McLoughlin, guys that didn't necessarily play a lot of minutes, but still guys who were GROWN MEN, and SHOWED UP everyday to work their asses off and hold everyone else accountable. Their contribution was invaluable, and it took us (and is taking us) a little time to readjust to life without them. We trust Mark, though. And we have each other's backs, so hopefully we will just continue to get better. After 3 losses in a row, I think we realise that no team in the league is good enough to ever take winning for granted.”

Templeogue can now put their league form to one side for a week as the National Cup takes centre stage this weekend, as they host Darren O’Neill’s Belfast Star.