Raiders break Spartans’ run

By Greg Oakford
KNOX Raiders ended the Brisbane Spartans undefeated streak at 14 on Saturday night in a home-crowd spurred overtime 107-103 thriller.
One of the games of the season, both teams battled hard all night but it was the Raiders who were helped over the line by one of the biggest home crowds Knox Converse Stadium has seen.
Both teams started the anticipated clash struggling to shoot the ball with any consistency and, despite 11 opening quarter points from Raiders star C.J. Massingale (36 points, 5 rebounds), the undefeated Spartans team took a three-point advantage into the quarter time break.
Coaching against his old friend Bruce Palmer, Raiders head coach Graham Longstaff gave his charges a rev up before they came out for the start of the second quarter, which paid dividends.
The Raiders turned up the defensive pressure in the second and found some rhythm on the offensive end.
They shot the ball at 55 per cent from the field for 29 second quarter points while keeping their opponent to just 29.4 per cent field goal shooting for a total of just 17 and setting up a handy nine-point lead going into the main break.
The third quarter was a basket-for-basket twelve minutes, with neither team giving an inch as the Raiders maintained their nine-point buffer by the end of the period.
Going into the final period, the fans got right behind the home team, willing the Raiders to get over the line against one of the form sides of the competition, but the Spartans were never going to let their undefeated streak come to a close easily.
Despite an opening three-point make by Massingale to start proceedings off in the fourth, the Spartans came hard at the Raiders in the final term.
Hot three-point shooting from the Spartans team and poor free throw shooting from the Raiders kept the game in touch for the Brisbane team.
Up by seven points with only 1:23 remaining, Spartan Tyson Demos (26 points, 7 rebounds) connected from downtown to cut the lead to four – which then led to a Greg Vanderjagt (18 points, 15 rebounds) foul on the following possession on Mick Hill (15 points, 8 rebounds), which sent Hill to the line.
Vanderjagt also picked up a technical foul, giving the Raiders four free throws with 1:18 to go. Hill took all four but could only manage to connect on two.
Holding possession of the ball after the technical free throws, the Raiders in-bounded to Hill, who was immediately fouled and went to the line for a further two shots.
Hill again only went 50 per cent for the trip, giving his team a seven-point advantage.
A quick Thalo Green (10 points, 7 rebounds) three-point basket cut the lead back to four, leading to a another game-extending foul by the Spartans, this time on Massingale who converted both free throws to push the margin out to six.
A quick response from Vanderjagt with a two-point make led to yet another deliberate foul from the Spartans but would not lead to another free throw miss, as Massingale again was clutch from the line, hitting two from two and keeping the lead at six with just 35 seconds left.
But the Spartans were still not done with yet, Peni Nasalo (7 points, 2 rebounds) knocked down a three with 24 clicks remaining and then followed up with a foul on Nick Payne (15 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists) to stop the clock with 18 seconds left.
Connecting on at least one of the two bonus free throws would have made it a two possession game and have almost put the game out of reach for the Spartans – but Payne would come up empty from the line and give the Spartans one last chance of tying the game with a three point conversion.
Drew Williamson (18 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 5 blocks) attempted a three with 10 seconds left.
The shot bounced off the rim into the red-hot shooting hand of Tyson Demos who dribbled the ball out to the three point arc in front of the Raiders bench, elevated up over three defenders and drained a crowd-silencing three-pointer to send the game into overtime.
With the momentum completely shifted to the Spartans and Raider Lester Strong (16 points, 15 rebounds) fouled out of the game, the Raiders could have easily dropped their heads and crumbled under the intense Spartan pressure.
Leading by a single point with less than 20 seconds remaining, a corner Mick Hill three gave the Raiders a four-point buffer, this time enough to close out the game to the delight and relief of Knox Converse Stadium.
The win takes the Raiders to 9-8 on the season and elevates them to third on the East Conference ladder, just ahead on percentage from Bendigo (9-8) who are next on the Raiders radar on Saturday 13 June in Bendigo.