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Injury List: Kyle Jimenez, Prince Onwas and Fahro Alihodzic
Victory for the Caledonia Gladiators in Newcastle as they advance to the next round of the Super League Basketball Cup after beating the Newcastle Eagles in a close, 3-point game. The Caledonia Gladiators will face off against Bristol Flyers in the Quarterfinal.
In the first win of the Robbie Peers Era of the Caledonia Gladiators, the men came out fighting with an impressive 13 points to 4 points in the first 5 minutes of action. The Gladiators, with all four of the new Gladiators in the starting line-up, came out with a point to prove. However, Newcastle were not going to give up the game that easy, they fought themselves back into the game to end the quarter 14 – 19. The Gladiators played excellent defence, keeping Newcastle to a low 14 points in the first quarter of play.
The Gladiators pushed their lead in the second quarter. The Gladiators took a commanding lead entering the half time break after outscoring the Eagles by 11 points in the 10 minutes quarter. The Gladiators showed their shooting skills during the second quarter with a strong 6 – 11 from behind the 3-point line. The second quarter score was 17 – 28 to the Gladiators, with the Gladiators taking the first half with a score of 31 – 47! With the Gladiators in the driving seat, the Newcastle Eagles would need to dig deep to try and find a way back into the game.
The Newcastle Eagles were not going to allow the Gladiators to take the win on their home floor without a fight. The Eagles came back into the game during the second half, starting with a huge third quarter performance of 33 points to the Gladiators’ 24, cutting the 16 point differential from the first half to 7 points. The Gladiators continued to show their shooting prowess, shooting 5-9 from three, along with stellar inside play. Despite the fight from Newcastle during the third quarter, the Gladiators entered the final 10 minutes of action with a strong lead.
Newcastle continued their fight into the final 10 minutes with the momentum in their favour. However, it would not be enough to overcome the deficit created in the first half of the game. With a clutch performance by the Gladiators, Newcastle were left on the losing side of this rival match-up and were knocked-out of the Super League Basketball Cup in the first round by the Caledonia Gladiators. The Gladiators played a fast tempo game that was led by the three new import players. Malik Dunbar (26 points), Jared Wilson-Frame (17 points) and Elijah Cain (17 points) would lead the Gladiators in scoring.
The game would finish in a nail-biter with the Gladiators withstanding the storm and coming out with the 3-point win, aided by some clutch shooting by Jared Wilson Frame who scored the last 4-points for the Gladiators in the final 20 seconds of the game.
The Game ended 87 – 90 to the Gladiators!
The Caledonia Gladiators will face the Bristol Flyers in the Quarterfinal of the Super League Basketball Cup.
Tonight’s MVP was Malik Dunbar. Huge Game for him with 26 points and 66% from 3-points range in 23 minutes of action.
