Raiders maintain home record in friendly victory

IT WAS a hectic week in the world of the Plymouth Raiders, with the club having to pull out all the stops with Portsmouth Force being in National Cup action.

- MARTYN NORMAN

The Raiders faced the real possibility of having no home games until December 22. Thankfully, Raiders Legend Jay Marriott was on hand with his Gloucester Kings stepping in to play the Raiders in a mid-season friendly dubbed the “Plymouth Raiders Invitational.”

The atmosphere was as loud as ever for a Raiders home game, but with an air of a celebration of South West Basketball. The weird nature of the off-season restructuring in the league system means that Gloucester find themselves in a division below Raiders, but have a team more than be capable to compete at Division Three level, alongside Raiders, and this was to be the case on Sunday when the Kings made life incredibly difficult for Plymouth.

Both teams traded three-point shots in the opening stages of the game with Jamie Davies and Alister Gall making their shots for the home team. As the first quarter went on, the Raiders opened up a healthy lead and the first quarter ended 20-8 in Plymouth’s favour.