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The Caledonia Gladiators headed down to face off against former player Ian Duboise and Manchester Basketball as the Super League Basketball Championship enters the latter stages of competition. Despite leading for much of the game, the Gladiators would unfortunately fall to a strong Manchester team. In his first appearance as a Starter, Jett Speelman had an impressive game with 20 points on 66% shooting from behind the three-point line and 4 rebounds.
Both teams would start the first quarter strong, trading baskets for the whole quarter to keep the score tight. The first quarter would end 22 – 21 in favour of the home team, Manchester. The Caledonia Gladiators would score well throughout the first quarter, missing just six of their fourteen shots in the 10 minutes of action. Jett Speelman would put up 7 points in the first quarter to lead the Gladiators.
The Gladiators took control of the game in the second quarter, controlling the ball on both offense and defence. The Gladiators would win the quarter, 17 – 27 and took the 9-point lead into the half-time break. The Gladiators would continue their strong showing on the offensive end, continuing to score at a high percentage for the remainder of the first half. Manchester Basketball, however, would struggle from three-point range during the first half of action, missing all but 2 of their 12 attempts.
The half time score was 39 – 48 to the Caledonia Gladiators.
Manchester Basketball were not done fighting in front of their home crowd, bringing themselves back into the game to be only down by three entering the final 10 minutes of action. The Gladiators continued to play well throughout the third quarter, putting up 22-points, but Manchester came out on top to put up 27-points and fight themselves back into the game. The Gladiators would enter the final quarter of the game on the road up by 3-points, 66 – 70.
The Gladiators would remain in the lead on the road until the final minutes of the game at the National Basketball Performance Centre, but ultimately Manchester would fight themselves into the lead and hold on with big baskets from Donovan Mitchell, who scored the last six points for Manchester Basketball and secured them the win. A tough road defeat makes it three defeats in a row for the Caledonia Gladiators. The men look to bounce back this Wednesday as they are back on the road to face off against the Sheffield Sharks.
