On game day 3 of the FIBA Europe Cup and it’s Caledonia Gladiators who make the trip to Bilbao as they face Surne Bilbao Basket. Both teams go into this game with 2-0 records and will be looking to come away with a flawless record.
Caledonia Gladiators come into this game with a great run of form beating Leicester Riders in a thriller that went down to the last seconds. A Clifton Moore deuce was enough to see Caledonia over the line.
Meanwhile Bilbao had a narrow loss in overtime to Tenerife on Sunday but were successful in comfortably defeating Sibiu just days before.
In the first quarter it was a close contest. The score ended 22-19 in Bilbao’s favour with Clifton earning a late point thanks to a video review from the referees.
The second quarter had Bilbao finding their groove with Adam Smith taking his tally to 10 points, consistently scoring in the paint. The Gladiators kept themselves in it with their 3-point shooting as Palyza and Whelan made two each. The half ended 42-33 to the hosts. Gladiators will need to avoid making many more turnovers having 14 turnovers to Bilbao’s 9.
In the third quarter Bilbao really flexed their muscles. They won the third quarter by 23 points leaving Caledonia with a huge task to overcome. Bilbao were making their shots count and covered Caledonia well defensively limiting them to only 11 points in the quarter. By the 4th quarter it was looking out of Caledonia’s reach to get anything out the game and the theme continued till the end of the game. Bilbao showed that they are a team to be feared in the FIBA Europe Cup, winning the game 106-58
Gladiators have a busy November ahead with Sibiu coming to Playsport next. Get your tickets here.
