Derrick Okunpolor.
By John Manley
Victories have been hard to come by for the Molloy College men’s basketball team this season, but they grinded out a 62-59 road win over Queens College on Saturday. Belfast native Derrick Okunpolor scored what proved to be the winning points on a jump shot from close range with 4:26 left on the game clock. The 6-5 junior, who now calls Lynbrook, N.Y. home, finished with four points, hitting two of his four field goal attempts. The Lions improved to 5-17 overall and 4-8 in the East Coast Conference.
Sean Gilmore continues to shoot at a better than 50 percent clip, although Colby (10-12) has had trouble posting a "W." The 6-7 sophomore from San Francisco scored 13 points in Tuesday's 92-87 road loss at Southern Maine, connecting on six of 10 field goal attempts, including his only attempt from outside the 3-point arc. His three rejections were a team high.
John Carroll was perfect at the foul line in Hartford's 79-62 road win over New Hampshire on Wednesday. The 6-8 Dublin junior converted all five of his free throws, along with three of eight shots from the floor (one of two from Mount Washington), to finish with 12 points. The Hawks (14-10, 7-3 Atlantic East) then took down Stony Brook, 73-64, on Long Island on Saturday, thanks to a double-double from Carroll. He finished with 12 points (3-of-8 shooting from the floor, 6-of-11 from the line) and 11 rebounds. For good measure, he added a game-high five assists.
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Whitney Moia finished two points shy of a double-double as MidAmerica Nazarene University defeated Clarke, 96-78, in a Saturday road confrontation. Moia, a junior from Dublin, posted eight points (3-of-6 from the floor, 2-of-4 from the line), 12 caroms and three assists in 20 minutes of action. The Pioneers improved to 19-3 overall and 11-2 in the Heart of America Conference.
TRACK & FIELD
Villanova’s Harry Purcell, a junior from Dublin, won the men’s 400 meters at the Villanova Invitational in Staten Island, N.Y. on Saturday. He nipped teammate Brian Faust by seven one-hundredths of a second with a winning time of 47.80.
Mississippi’s Sean Tobin, a senior from Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, got fourth place in the men’s mile at Saturday’s Millrose Games at the 169th Street Armory in upper Manhattan. Tobin completed his circuits in 3:58.28 as the only collegian in the race. The honor of breaking the tape belonged to Eric Avila, who got there in 3:57.45. It should be noted that this was not the Wanamaker Mile, the premier event of the program. That went to England’s Chris O’Hare in 3:54.14.
Harry Purcell.
Paddy Robb of Adams State finished second in the men’s mile at the Colorado Invitational in Boulder, Colo. The Belfast sophomore needed 4:16.40 to finish, with only teammate George Kelly in front of him in 4:12.91. On the women’s side, Adams’ Roisin Flanagan, a sophomore from Gortin, Co. Tyrone, placed fourth in the women’s 800 meters. She finished in 2:11.32 in a race won by Julia Stepanova, running unaffiliated, in 2:05.99.
Butler’s Barry Keane, a freshman from Waterford, got fourth place in the Ryan Shay 3K at Notre Dame’s Meyo Invitational. Keane got the 3,000 meters in 8:04.50 in a race won by Eastern Michigan’s Hlynur Andresson in 8:02.08. Further back among the 56 finishers came Lamar’s Keith Fallon, a Dublin sophomore, who got 35th place in 8:31.47.
The Meyo Mile at Notre Dame was won by the host school’s Yared Naguse, who broke the tape in 4:02.44. Among the pursuers were Lamar’s Cormac Kelly, a junior from County Carlow, who finished 11th in 4:08.68 and McNeese State’s Luke Horgan, a Cork freshman, who checked in 24th in 4:14.24.
Stony Brook’s Clodagh O’Reilly was the 10th of 24 finishers in the women’s 1,000 meters (run in three heats) at Friday’s Metropolitan Championships in Staten Island, N.Y. The County Cavan sophomore was along in 2:59.64 in a heat that included the overall winner, Columbia’s Katie Wasserman in 2:56.19.
SQUASH
The George Washington men’s team enjoyed 9-0 romps over Georgetown and Franklin & Marshall over the weekend, with Oisin Logan pulling his weight in both. The Dublin senior took care of Georgetown’s Michael Ficca, 3-0 (11-4, 11-3, 11-4) on Friday at no. 3 to move into sole possession of second place on the Colonials’ all-time wins with 51. Saturday’s encounter with F&M in Lancaster, Pa. found Logan needing four games to defeat Yannis Senkel, 3-1 (11-5, 10-12, 11-5, 11-2).
Drexel's women fell, 5-4, to Cornell on Wednesday, although the Dragons' duo of Fiona Power and Stephanie Ryan earned points at numbers 7 and 8, respectively. Power, a Galway junior, rallied to defeat Madison Miles, 3-2 (11-13, 8-11, 16-14, 12-10, 11-3), while Ryan, a Dublin freshman, had a softer time with Colby Gallagher, 3-0 (11-3, 11-6, 11-4).
MEN’S GOLF
Texas Wesleyan's Rowan Lester, the reigning NAIA champ, took sixth place in the OUAZ Spring Invitational at the Wigwam Resort in Phoenix. The Dublin sophomore combined rounds of 72, 70 and 70 to finish the event four strokes under par and 12 in back of Oklahoma City's David Meyers, the medalist. Texas Wesleyan nipped Oklahoma City by a stroke for the team crown.
