The Caledonia Gladiators head down to Bristol to try keep their playoff dreams alive in a must win game against the 8th seeded Flyers. A tough road game would see the Gladiators face one of their biggest challenges of their SLB Championship season. A tough first half would see the Gladiators down by double digits at the SGS College Arena in front of a busy crowd this Good Friday. The Gladiators would find themselves unable to fight their way back into the game and despite losing the second half by just one-point, they would lose to the Flyers on the Road, 86 – 73.
The Gladiators and Flyers would begin the game trading baskets at the SGS College Arena. The game would remain tight for the first five minutes of the first quarter, but Bristol would begin to increase their lead towards the end of the 10-minute quarter. The Flyers would go on a 7 – 0 run in the last three minutes to take a 6-point lead into the second quarter in Bristol.
The Flyers would keep their momentum going throughout the rest of first half of action at the SGS College Arena. The Bristol Flyers would quickly take the double-digit lead within the first minutes of action in the second quarter, going up 27 – 16. The Flyers would start the quarter on a 10 – 0 run, doubling the Gladiators points total, before Trevond Barnes would put the first 2-points on the board in the second. Within the first five minutes of the second quarter, the Bristol Flyers would take a 19-point lead in with five and half minutes left in the first half, 37 – 18. The Gladiators would fight back cutting the Flyers lead to 12 points by the end of the first half.
The score at the half was 46 – 34 to the Bristol Flyers.
The Bristol Flyers would draw first blood in the second half, putting up five points to take the 17-point lead. The two teams would trade baskets for much of the third quarter, with the Gladiators able to cut the deficit to 11-points. In a quarter of runs, the Gladiators would find themselves down by 15 entering the final quarter on the road in this must win game. The Gladiators faced a mountain to climb on the road against the strong Bristol Flyers entering the final quarter of action the Good Friday.
The fourth quarter saw the two teams trading baskets and tempers flaring with guard, Devearl Ramsey fouling out and Fahro Alihodzic being ejected within first five minutes of the final quarter. Missing two key players, the Gladiators would continue to fight to finish the game, but it wouldn’t be enough to keep their playoff dream alive as they would fall by 13 points.
The Final Score was 86 – 73
