Match Report written by Scott Laidlaw
The Caledonia Gladiators come into the game off the back of a win against the Bristol Flyers in their last regular season game last Friday night, down in Bristol, which was a 75-80 win. The Newcastle Eagles come into the game off a loss to the Manchester Giants in their last regular season game; the score was 91-89.
The Caledonia Gladiators’ starting five: Quade Green, Princeton Onwas, Patrick Whelan, Clifton Moore Jr., Lukas Palyza. The Newcastle Eagles’ starting five: Rickey McGill, Larry Austin Jr., D. Whitfield, Darius Defoe, Tajh Green.
The Newcastle Eagles scored within the first 30 seconds of the game, a 2-pointer from Tajh Green, which was the start of a 0-4 run for the Eagles. The Gladiators responded with a bucket from Lukas Palyza, which was the start of a 4-0 run for the Gladiators and 4 points personally for Lukas Palyza so far. It was Gladiators (Palyza) 4-4 Eagles. The Eagles went on a 0-6 run, which included 2 free throws from star man Darius Defoe to lead 4-10. The Gladiators went on a 4-0 run with Clifton Moore scoring 4 points to trail by 2 points, Caledonia Gladiators 8-10 Newcastle Eagles. Jordan Johnson scored the first 3-pointer of the evening for the score to be Gladiators 10-15 Eagles. That was the start of a 5-0 run for the Eagles. The score was Gladiators 10-17 Eagles. Patrick Whelan was sent to the line to put 2 free throws away, which was the start of a 4-0 run for the Gladiators, making the score 14-17, a 3-point game, and an entertaining game so far. At the end of the quarter, Mike Bothwell was sent to the line for 3 free throws, which were successful. The end of the quarter score was Gladiators 19-24 Eagles, a 5-point game.
The second quarter started with the Eagles being sent to the line to shoot 2 free throws, but only 1 was successfully put in, starting a 0-5 run for the Eagles, leading 19-29. The Gladiators went on a 4-0 run. Eagles called a timeout with the Gladiators at the line for 2 free throws, Clifton Moore scoring 2 from 2 at the line, making it a 4-point game, Gladiators 25-29 Eagles. With 5 minutes till halftime, it was Gladiators 28-33 Eagles. After the TV timeout, the Gladiators went on a 5-0 run to tie the game at 33-33. Then, Darius Defoe went to the line for 2 successful free throws, starting a 0-5 run for the Eagles. This was stopped by a 3-pointer from Fraser Malcolm, putting the gap to 3 points, Gladiators 36-39 Eagles. With just under 1 and a half minutes till halftime, it was 38-41. Eagles then went on a 0-4 run to lead 38-45. The Gladiators ended the quarter with a 5-0 run. The halftime score was Gladiators 43-45 Eagles, with Patrick Whelan hitting the 3-pointer at the buzzer to close the gap at halftime to the Eagles at 2 points.
Top scorers at halftime for the Caledonia Gladiators were Patrick Whelan with 9 points, and for the Newcastle Eagles, it was Jordan Johnson and Darius Defoe with 10 points each.
The third quarter started with the Gladiators scoring a 2-pointer to tie the game at 45-45 with a bucket from Patrick Whelan. Then, the Eagles went on a 0-10 run to lead 45-55, making it a 10-point game. Clifton Moore stopped the Eagles’ run with 2 successful free throws. But then, the Eagles went on a 0-4 run to extend their lead to 12 points, Gladiators 47-59 Eagles. With the Eagles on team fouls, it sent Patrick Whelan to the line to shoot 2 free throws, which he successfully sunk. Kyle Johnson was next at the free-throw line, sinking his 2 buckets during a 6-0 run for the Gladiators, making the score Gladiators 57-63 Eagles. Jordan Johnson was at the line for 3 free throws, scoring 2 out of 3 from the line, making it an 8-point game. End of the quarter, it was Gladiators 59-65 Eagles, with an 8-point lead for Newcastle with 10 minutes to go here in East Kilbride.
The 4th quarter started with traded buckets, with Patrick Whelan at the line for 2 free throws and being successful with them both, making the score Gladiators 61-67 Eagles. Then, Newcastle went on a 0-7 run, which included several free throws. The run was stopped by Quade Green, but with the run the Eagles had been on, it forced coach Murray into a timeout. With Newcastle back in team foul trouble, Princeton Onwas was at the line for 2 free throws, being successful with 1. With 5 minutes left in the game, it was Gladiators 64-80 Eagles. It could be an interesting ending with both teams on team fouls for the remainder of the game. Quade Green fouled out with 5 fouls, and Darius Defoe followed him seconds later. End of the game, it was Gladiators 78-97 Eagles, a 19-point victory for the Eagles.
The full-time leading scorers were for the Caledonia Gladiators, Patrick Whelan with 20 points, and for the Newcastle Eagles, it was Jordan Johnson with 31 points.
MVP was Patrick Whelan with 20 points, 2 rebounds, and 2 assists.
