# 2016–17 Irish Super League season

The 2016–17 Irish Super League season was the 44th running of Basketball Ireland's premier men's basketball competition. The season featured 12 teams from across the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, with the regular season beginning on 23 September 2016 and ending on 19 March 2017. During the 2016 off-season, Basketball Ireland expanded its top flight men's league to 12 teams, with new team Tralee Warriors entering and Dublin side KUBS being granted promotion from the Men's Division One. With a first-place finish and a 20–2 win–loss record, Templeogue were crowned league champions for the first time in their history. 2017 National Cup honours went to Swords Thunder, who collected their first piece of silverware in the top flight league, while Tralee were crowned the winners of the season finale Champions Trophy tournament after defeating Templeogue in the final.

## Teams

| Team | Stadium | City/Area | Last season |
| Belfast Star | Methodist College | Belfast | 7th |
| DCU Saints | DCU Sports Complex | Glasnevin, Dublin | 6th |
| Éanna | Coláiste Éanna | Rathfarnham, Dublin | 10th |
| Killester | IWA Sports Hall | Clontarf, Dublin | 2nd |
| KUBS | Carroll Arena | Greendale, Dublin | New |
| Moycullen | Kingfisher, NUIG | Galway | 9th |
| Swords Thunder | ALSAA Sports Complex | Dublin Airport, Dublin | 5th |
| Templeogue | Oblate Hall | Inchicore, Dublin | 3rd |
| Tralee Warriors | Tralee Sports Complex | Tralee | New |
| UCC Demons | Mardyke Arena, UCC | Cork | 1st |
| UCD Marian | UCD Sports Centre | Belfield, Dublin | 4th |
| UL Eagles | PESS Building, UL | Limerick | 8th |

## Regular season

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Templeogue (C) | 22 | 20 | 2 | 1906 | 1619 | +287 | 60 | |
| 2 | Swords Thunder | 22 | 19 | 3 | 1902 | 1518 | +384 | 57 | |
| 3 | Tralee Warriors | 22 | 17 | 5 | 1773 | 1590 | +183 | 51 | |
| 4 | UCD Marian | 22 | 17 | 5 | 1871 | 1656 | +215 | 51 | |
| 5 | Killester | 22 | 13 | 9 | 1683 | 1601 | +82 | 39 | |
| 6 | UCC Demons | 22 | 12 | 10 | 1776 | 1827 | −51 | 36 | |
| 7 | Moycullen | 22 | 9 | 13 | 1730 | 1784 | −54 | 27 | |
| 8 | DCU Saints | 22 | 7 | 15 | 1628 | 1754 | −126 | 21 | |
| 9 | Éanna | 22 | 6 | 16 | 1568 | 1746 | −178 | 18 | |
| 10 | Belfast Star | 22 | 6 | 16 | 1564 | 1717 | −153 | 18 | |
| 11 | KUBS | 22 | 5 | 17 | 1526 | 1731 | −205 | 15 | |
| 12 | UL Eagles (R) | 22 | 1 | 21 | 1387 | 1771 | −384 | 3 | Relegated |

## Champions Trophy
### Bracket

| Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final |
| | | | 1 | Templeogue | 71 | | |
| 4 | UCD Marian | 80 | 4 | UCD Marian | 64 | | |
| | Ulster University Elks** | 56 | | | | Templeogue | 73 |
| | | | | | | Tralee Warriors | 74 |
| | | | 2 | Swords Thunder | 64 | | |
| 3 | Tralee Warriors | 82 | 3 | Tralee Warriors | 66 | | |
| | Maree* | 67 | | | | | |
*National League Division 1 champions.
**National League Division 1 runners-up.

### Quarter-finals

* 25 March 2017 15:00 GMT
| Ulster University Elks | 56–80 | UCD Marian |
| Pts: Marty McDonald (18) | | Pts: Tied (19) |
* Methodist College, Belfast
* 25 March 2017 19:00 GMT
| Maree | 67–82 | Tralee Warriors |
| Pts: Eoin Rockall (18) | | Pts: Trae Pemberton (31) |
* Calasanctius College, Oranmore
Source: Basketball Ireland, Basketball Ireland

### Semi-finals

* 1 April 2017 16:00 GMT
* Box Score
| Templeogue | 71–64 | UCD Marian |
| Scoring by quarter: 20–21, 14–10, 15–19, 22–14 |||
| Pts: Jason Killeen (21) Rebs: Jason Killeen (14) Asts: Tied (3) | | Pts: Conor Meany (17) Rebs: Mike Garrow (12) Asts: Scott Kinevane (9) |
* LYIT, Letterkenny
* 1 April 2017 18:00 GMT
* Box Score
| Swords Thunder | 64–66 | Tralee Warriors |
| Scoring by quarter: 15–18, 12–18, 16–16, 21–14 |||
| Pts: Alex Dolenko (13) Rebs: José María Gil Narbón (10) Asts: Alex Calvexe (4) | | Pts: Trae Pemberton (24) Rebs: Goran Pantovic (14) Asts: Kieran Donaghy (5) |
* LYIT, Letterkenny
Source: Basketball Ireland Basketball Ireland

### Final

* YouTube
* 2 April 2017 16:00 GMT
* Box Score Report Report
| Templeogue | 73–74 (OT) | Tralee Warriors |
| Scoring by quarter: 16–18, 20–16, 14–17, 16–15, Overtime: 7–8 |||
| Pts: Michael Bonaparte (22) Rebs: Michael Bonaparte (14) Asts: Stephen James (6) | | Pts: Trae Pemberton (21) Rebs: Goran Pantovic (18) Asts: Kieran Donaghy (8) |
* LYIT, Letterkenny MVP: Kieran Donaghy

## National Cup
### Round 1 (2 legs)

* 22 October 2016 (Series 1)
| Moycullen | 72–71 | Belfast Star |
* NUIG Kingfisher, Galway
* 22 October 2016 (Series 2)
| UCD Marian | 95–68 | UL Eagles |
* UCD Sports Centre, Dublin
* 22 October 2016 (Series 3)
| Tralee Warriors | 61–55 | Swords Thunder |
* Tralee Sports Complex, Tralee
* 22 October 2016 (Series 4)
| KUBS | 72–65 | Éanna |
* Carroll Arena, Dublin
* 22 October 2016 (Series 5)
| Killester | 69–70 | DCU Saints |
* IWA-Clontarf, Dublin
* 22 October 2016 (Series 6)
| Templeogue | 96–87 | UCC Demons |
* Oblate Hall, Dublin
* 29 October 2016 (Series 2)
| UL Eagles | 62–69 | UCD Marian |
| UCD Marian win Series 2 on aggregate (164–130). |||
* UL Arena, Limerick
* 29 October 2016 (Series 3)
| Swords Thunder | 77–64 | Tralee Warriors |
| Swords Thunder win Series 3 on aggregate (132–125). |||
* ALSAA, Dublin
* 29 October 2016 (Series 4)
| Éanna | 53–68 | KUBS |
| KUBS win Series 4 on aggregate (140–118). |||
* Coláiste Éanna, Dublin
* 29 October 2016 (Series 5)
| DCU Saints | 68–84 | Killester |
| Killester win Series 5 on aggregate (153–138). |||
* DCU Sports Complex, Dublin
* 30 October 2016 (Series 6)
| UCC Demons | 85–94 | Templeogue |
| Templeogue win Series 6 on aggregate (190–172). |||
* Mardyke Arena, Cork
* 19 November 2016 (Series 1)
| Belfast Star | 80–84 | Moycullen |
| Moycullen win Series 1 on aggregate (156–151). |||
* Methodist College, Belfast

### Round 2 (1 leg)

Winner of Series 5 vs Winner of Series 4
* 26 November 2016
| Killester | 84–62 | KUBS |
* IWA-Clontarf, Dublin
Winner of Series 6 vs Winner of Series 3
* 7 December 2016
| Templeogue | 81–88 | Swords Thunder |
* National Basketball Arena, Dublin

### Semi-finals

Winner of Series 1 vs Winner of Game 2, Round 2
* 7 January 2017 16:00 GMT
| Moycullen | 77–85 | Swords Thunder |
* Neptune Stadium, Cork
Winner of Game 1, Round 2 vs Winner of Series 2
* 7 January 2017 20:00 GMT
| Killester | 81–69 | UCD Marian |
* Neptune Stadium, Cork

### Final

* YouTube
* 28 January 2017 20:00 GMT
* Box Score Report
| Killester | 51–72 | Swords Thunder |
| Scoring by quarter: 15–17, 12–16, 13–20, 11–19 |||
| Pts: Cian Nihill (16) Rebs: Jermaine Turner (16) Asts: Ciaran Roe (4) | | Pts: Justin Goldsborough (14) Rebs: José María Gil Narbón (8) Asts: Isaac Westbrooks (7) |
* National Basketball Arena, Dublin MVP: José María Gil Narbón
Source: Basketball Ireland

## Awards
### Player of the Month

| Month | Player | Team |
| October | Lorcan Murphy | Templeogue |
| November | Lorcan Murphy | Templeogue |
| December | Dillon Stith | Belfast Star |
| January | José María Gil Narbón | Swords Thunder |
| February | Trae Pemberton | Tralee Warriors |
| March | Trae Pemberton | Tralee Warriors |

### Coach of the Month

| Month | Player | Team |
| October | Mark Keenan | Templeogue |
| November | Dave Baker | Swords Thunder |
| December | Mark Keenan | Templeogue |
| January | Dave Baker | Swords Thunder |
| February | Mark Bernsen | Tralee Warriors |
| March | Mark Bernsen | Tralee Warriors |

### Statistics leaders

Stats as of the end of the regular season
| Category | Player | Team | Stat |
| Points per game | Dillon Stith | Belfast Star | 27.4 |
| Rebounds per game | Mārtiņš Provizors | DCU Saints | 16.7 |
| Assists per game | Scott Kinevane | UCD Marian | 9.7 |
| Steals per game | Michael Garrow | UCD Marian | 5.4 |
| Blocks per game | Jacob Lawson | UCC Demons | 3.2 |

### Regular season

* Player of the Year: Trae Pemberton (Tralee Warriors)
* Young Player of the Year: Ryan Leonard (Tralee Warriors)
* Coach of the Year: Mark Bernsen (Tralee Warriors)
* All-Star First Team:
** Trae Pemberton (Tralee Warriors)
** José María Gil Narbón (Swords Thunder)
** Lorcan Murphy (Templeogue)
** Jermaine Turner (Killester)
** Michael Bonaparte (Templeogue)
* All-Star Second Team:
** Dillon Stith (Belfast Star)
** Mike Garrow (UCD Marian)
** Kevin Foley (KUBS)
** Jason Killeen (Templeogue)
** Isaac Westbrooks (Swords Thunder)
* All-Star Third Team:
** Kieran Donaghy (Tralee Warriors)
** Corbin Jackson (KUBS)
** Keelan Cairns (Belfast Star)
** Mārtiņš Provizors (DCU Saints)
** Ryan Leonard (Tralee Warriors)