Unfortunate Friday For The Plymouth City Patriots
Plymouth City Patriots took on the Caledonia Gladiators Friday night at Plymouth Pavilion stadium however weren’t Plymouths night. The Gladiators were able to take the win in a 10-point game, ending at 82-72.
This was a huge win for the Gladiators as they knew if they won, it would start applying pressure on the top team, the London Lions. They came out hot in the first half and really put the clamps down on the Patriots making it as hard as possible for them to score.
The Patriots went 5 for 24 from the field in the first half which isn’t what the fans wanted to see. The Plymouth trio, Faulkner, Johnson and Atwood scored only 11 points altogether through 8 shots however, team leader, Elvisi Dusha played a big part in keeping the Patriots in arms reach with controlling the game and keeping everyone’s head in the correct space. This took the Patriots into the second half, being down by only 2 points at 35-33.
The Gladiators and Patriots kept switching leads during the second half with both teams fighting hard. Alihodzic carried the Gladiators offence during the second half with Buttick having a double-double by the end of the third quarter.
The Patriots kept battling and kept it close at 58-54 by the end of the third quarter.
The Gladiators ran away with the win at 82-72, bringing them to 4th place in the championship league with 19 wins and 17 losses, giving them 38 points.
This game was a very slow game as there were a total of 60 attempted free throws!
The player of this game was Gladiators Trent Buttick, that had 14 points and an amazing 16 rebounds.
Next game for the Plymouth Patriots is this Sunday against the London Lions. This will be a tough battle for the Patriots, however if they manage to get the win, it will be the Patriots coach, Paul James’ 500th win.