On Saturday, UCD Marian returned to winning ways with a crucial 83-77 win away to Belfast Star to gain a massive advantage in their bid to reach the play off's.

The Dublin team were down by as much as eight points in the first half but gained a bit of momentum with a jumper by Niall Meany just before the half time buzzer to bring UCD to within five points.

The opening 30 seconds of the second half saw UCD Marian gain further momentum with Niall Meany and Dan James adding their contribution to the scoreboard.

Belfast Star couldn’t connect on easy lay ups which UCD took advantage of on their offensive end to convert to points. With three minutes to go, Star couldn’t answer for the prowess of Niall Meany who contributed on both ends and ended the victory with a personal tally of 13 points.

UCD Marian Head Coach Fran Ryan expressed his relief with the victory.

“It was a great win and we are just relived to have got the win in the end," said Ryan.

“We were down with three minutes to go and to come back and win by six is a great feat.

“However, we were lethargic today with very low energy and we let Star dictate the offensive boards which wasn’t good.