Now that was a game of Basketball.

If you had never been to a basketball game and decided to visit the JSSC last night, you made a very wise decision. Talk about entertainment, there was everything that makes basketball such a great sport on display by the bucketful. It does make you wonder why people seem happy to stump up upwards of £50-100 per game to watch Premier League football where you sit miles away from the pitch and the players are utterly detached from the fans [on and off the pitch], and there is always a chance of a 0-0 draw..........


Last night was all about two teams absolutely giving it everything and the end result was a BBL speciality, a drawn game of basketball!


Riders came into the game looking to make home floor advantage count and Eagles' brief was to end the night with something to defend on their floor for the deciding second leg next Friday. The first quarter saw Eagles trying to stamp their defensive authority on Riders and their aggressive tactics worked as they hustled Riders into some tough shots and also ran back turnovers for easy scores. Riders were quickly down double digits and a long night looked ahead for the boys in black. Joe Chapman, Paul Gause and Charles Smith were the executioners at this point as Cam Rundles, so often this season the Riders offensive spark, struggled to find his shooting range in the early going. 6 first quarter Riders turnovers didn't help the home side's offensive flow and they were down 13 [15-28] after 1.


The second period provided no respite for Riders with missed freethrows killing the team again, the lead peaked at 21 midway through the stanza and the only ray of sunshine for the home side was the foul tally stacking up on Newcastle as their defensive tactics which helped build the lead, also added concerns on the stat sheet with Gause and Flournoy both on 3 personal. The half time chat would be pivotal it seemed and as Coach grabbed the stat sheet from the table and quietly sat on the bench formulating a team talk and a plan for the second half, the score read 40-58 . What followed would be remembered for a long time.....


Into the third and the lead went up again early as another Chapman score pushed it to 43-64 but a massive three from the  impressive Bradd Wierzbicki seemed to send the energy pulsing through the team and the packed out bleachers. Riders stepped up the D and steadily chipped away at the deficit and another Wierzbicki triple cut it to 10 as the quarter wound down, the crowd were now really in the game and the Eagles were visibly wilting under the pressure.


All to play for then in the final 10 minutes and Riders kept the pressure on with Hardy and Wierzbicki to the fore, a defensive switch putting Sullivan on Smith and Hardy on Chapman paid dividends and with the quietly impressive Brett Royster clogging the paint at both ends, things were looking good. A Hardy steal and bucket got it into single digits at 8, he also rebounded a missed Griffin triple with a phenomenal climb and slam which sent the place mental! Tremendous work from Sullivan and Wierzbicki cut it to four [78-82] with 5m to go. Eagles were only able to convert from the line it seemed as John Griffin keyed in on the defensive end to quieten Gause and Griffin's big three made it 81-84 and game on with 4.50s left. A Sullivan bucket off another Wierzbicki dish cut it to a one point game [83-84] and Rob called "time out" to plot the final 3m of action from a Riders perspective. A baseline jumper from Darius Defoe steadied Eagles nerves but a big dunk from Royster and 1/2 from Bradd tied it at 86. Griffin then stripped Gause and fed the willing Hardy for a breakaway lay in and Riders had climbed their Everest, up two after being 21 down. What a comeback!
Two Gause scores put Eagles ahead again but 2/2 from the lively Griffin tied it up again at 90. Riders had a chance to grab an advantage after two big Royster blocks on Andrew Thomson gave Wierzbicki a chance to win it but his shot rimmed out and Smith grabbed the rebound as the buzzer sounded. What an unbelievable game it was........


Some numbers from the game.............


Bradd was excellent all night and went for 32 with 4/6 from deep, he also added four nice assists. Brett Royster was a monster at both ends with 19pts, 9 rebs and 4 big swats plus he went 5/6 from the line in his best display of his short rookie career. Ayron Hardy was his usual brilliant self and again caused the stat guys to cramp up with 18pts, 11 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 steals and 3 blocks in another all action outing. Cam Rundles had a character building night with 9pts off 0/6 from deep and 4/14 overall but he'll learn from it and be ready to go again. Drew Sullivan was well shackled but his nous came to the fore in the fourth, he hit 7pts and had 4 rebounds with John Griffin adding some tremendous defence to his 5pts and 5 rebounds.


It sets up an unmissable game in the North East on Friday, can Riders go all the way???????


Believe.