After the win in Chester in the opening Championship game, Riders got on the road again for fixture No2 with a trip to Surrey Sports Park to take on the Guildford Heat who had yet to register a league win so far this term.
After a tour of some Surrey housing estates [if i was a coach driver, i'd do my homework on the location of the place i was supposed to be driving to] we eventually swung into the home of the Heat and made use of the comfy chairs and birds eye view over the court that Starbucks Coffee provides in the impressive facility that Heat have used since vacating the Guildford Spectrum a couple of seasons ago. The usual pre game chatter ensued which threw up the usual "which crew of refs will we get" question, answered quickly as Keith Williams arrived [cue much gnashing of teeth] plus another unrelated Williams [one of the "Plymouth 3"] and a young lady official i hadn't seen before. Nobody ventured as to how this crew would perform together.....
Riders came out strong early behind the deadly arm of Cam Rundles whose accuracy from deep propelled the team into an early 12-20 lead after the opening stanza. The former Wofford standout found has a habit of getting going early and this was no exception as he hit some big shots despite some close Heat attention. The most worrying aspect of the quarter was the injury to current BBL Player of the Month Ayron Hardy who took a frightening tumble after having his legs taken away as he went up to the rim, the sickening thud as he landed reverberated around the arena and the 6'5 ex JU forward took a trip to the bench for some treatment with most worried onlookers fearing for his chances of returning such was the hit he took. Thankfully the rookie proved it would take something seismic to keep him from the action and he duly returned for the second quarter with somewhat reduced mobility as he eased himself back in. A tough kid, there is no doubt about it.
If the first period was all about Rundles, the second was more about a home comeback as they cranked up the D and that sparked a 16-2 run which reversed the scores somewhat and awoke the sparse home support into some sort of response. The scores remained close up to the half time break and an Albert Margai three point heave on the whistle saw the home side up 39-35 heading to the lockers with Rob being particularly upset with the last play as it swished home.........
The sides remained inseparable through a tight third period although the energised Rundles again took over for Riders with two more long rangers either side of a three point play which got the away support on their feet, scores were exchanged through the the quarter break as the scoreboard read 53 all with one quarter left to go. Game on indeed.
Riders managed to eke out a precious six point lead advantage with 1.30s left after good work from Drew Sullivan and Bradd Wierzbicki and you would have thought that we could and should have closed the game out from there but no such chance....... A period of play ensued that the travelling support could scarcely believe as first Julius Joseph and then Tayo Ogedengbe got to the rim to make it 73-76 Riders with 40s left and it was bite yer nails time as Riders blew chance after chance to put the game to bed as a crazy sequence of missed freebies from Rundles [x4], Sullivan [x2] and 1/2 from Wierzbicki saw the scores read 74-77 with Riders open to a three point bomb to tie it from the resulting Heat timeout. Step forward Julius Joseph who converted a tough shot from deep with Sullivan in his face to knot the scores at 77 all with 7s left. "Time Out" was the call from the away bench and Rob got to work on the white board for the final time.
The ball was inbounded to Rundles who chopped across the key under intense pressure and despite three Heat defenders draping themselves all over him, managed to get off an off balance, fadeaway rainbow shot which struck up string music on the buzzer leaving the Heat gobsmacked and Riders players and fans ecstatic! It was fitting that Rundles buried the winning shot as his November 5th pyrotechnics throughout the game saw him lead all scorers with 33 big ones including 6/10 from the arc, a stunning performance which was almost matched on the bus ride home but that's another story for another time...........
Rundles was supported offensively by Bradd who had 16 and Hardy who did brilliantly to continue after his first quarter mishap and grab 12 points despite clearly suffering. I'd give you some rebounding stats if i could but according to the Heat statsman we only had 8 all game........ Jesus Christ, what's going on there???
The performance of the stats guy was almost matched by the officials who i thought collectively had a shocker, although the least experienced member of the three was far from the worst. Quite what the refs assessor made of it is open to question i'd imagine?
Another road trip week awaits with a Friday date with Leopards in the final Trophy rubber followed by the big BBL Cup quarter final at the Northgate vs Chester on Saturday.
Could this be the season for a Cup ot two.................................??
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