Get your tickets for the latest Caledonia Gladiators fixtures as the BBL side face the Cheshire Phoenix on Friday the 16th of December – TICKETS – and the WBBL side take on the Manchester Met Mystics on the 17th of December – TICKETS.

Written by Jessica Matthewson

Caledonia Gladiators continued their home heroics as they clipped the wings of the Newcastle Eagles to pick 81-77 derby victory.

The Gladiators have had a run of home wins while the Eagles had faced a stream of 3 consecutive losses. The two sides were both eager for the win.

The Eagles stood strong from the start, winning tip but it was Jeremiah Bailey that benefitted from an early Gladiator steal and made the first basket. The game became merely a show for Bailey from this moment as he impressed with a spin move on the next basket.

The Gladiator’s defence was unstable at the beginning and the away team were able to get easy lay-ups and shots to the basket. David Cohn for Newcastle Eagles managed to control the pace of the game and set up his team for some powerful offence. The Scottish squad looked to maintain a fast-paced offence throughout with big outlet passes from Alasdair Fraser, but they were beaten by an established offence on the other end of the court, leaving the score at half time the score was 36-40.

The home team were trailing the entire game but still managing to keep the gap small with a point difference of 10. Both teams came out fiercer on the second half with the determination to take home the win. The rivalry of the teams came to play with fouls being called on both ends and both coloured jerseys fighting for every rebound. The entire stadium was tense with the anticipation of a tight game.

Fraser dominated under the basket on both ends of the court but picked up his fourth foul in the third quarter, allowing Patrick Tape to step in and show off his talents under the basket, picking up 10 points. But it was MVP Bailey that continued to find the basket like his hand had a magnet drawing him to it achieving a massive 28 points.

In the final quarter both teams had crucial players on four fouls but the energy going into this final step of the game was at an all time high. The Gladiators began to completely rule the game and brought it to a nail-biting two-point game with five minutes left.

In the final 9 seconds, Newcastle Eagles play a beautiful inbound offence to make it a 1-point game but it’s all over when Caledonia Gladiators pull of one last play to make the final score 81-77 to the home team, who maintain their home heroics.