Leicester Riders 81 Newcastle Eagles 68: Riders are 21 again
Last night the Jelson Homes DMU Leicester Riders beat the Newcastle Eagles 81-68, in a scrappy affair at the JSSC, and with that win, they recorded their 21st victory of the season – equalling the clubs previous best win total in a season set by Coach Paternostro in his first season in charge.
The decision was made before travelling South that the Eagles, having already secured the title and top spot in the league and with the play-offs a little over seven days away, to rest three starters. While Newcastle had the luxury to allow Chapman, Smith and Thomson to remain in Newcastle, Coach Paternostro chose to field a full strength team as the Riders set their sights on their 21st win of the season and make a run at second seed for the play-offs.
Despite the disjointed nature of the game, it did contain flashes of brilliance, most notably from Paul Gause early in the game as he hit a fall away, fade away despite being crowded by Lamble and several beautiful fast break sequences courtesy of the home team.
And it was that show in the third quarter that enabled Paternostro’s team to eventually take the control of the game, scoring 29 points in ten minutes in what was an otherwise low scoring game.
It should come as no surprise that MVP candidate, Ayron Hardy, recorded a double-double of 22 points and 10 rebounds in the game but what may shock you is that he performed that well whilst feeling ill. Then again, maybe nothing about the MVP-elect surprises you any more.
Coach Paternostro said when talking about his star player battling ill health: “Ayron’s an iron man. Every time I want to take him out, he says ‘no’. I just feel so comfortable with him on the floor. No matter how we’re playing, he’s the kind of guy who could rescue us.”
Hardy won the in-game MVP award for his efforts and was awarded with the obligatory bottle of champagne to celebrate. Only problem is, Hardy doesn’t have vices. I’m serious. He tried to give the bottle away. Does the man have ANY weakness?!
For the visitors, Joel Madourie was joint top scorer with Paul Gause on 19 points, while Defoe chipped in with a double-double of his own; 15 points and 14 rebounds.
Both teams only have one game left in the regular season: The Eagles return home to host the Cheshire Jets which holds little significance for the Eagles but could mean the difference between the sixth and eighth play-off spot for Cheshire, while the Riders return to the JSSC to face the Guildford Heat knowing that a win will give them their all-time biggest winning total in a BBL season (22). For Guildford, a team fighting it out at the bottom of the play-off standings, a win shares the same importance as it does for Cheshire.