Cardiff 94 - 88 Raiders

Plymouth Raiders suffered defeat in the Welsh capital on Saturday and move to 2-1 in their league campaign. Cardiff City, who sit second in the league took the win 94-88.

Raiders third league game of the season saw them back on the road again as they headed to the Welsh capital for a top of the table clash against Cardiff City.

Cardiff’s House of Sport played venue to Raiders latest NBL division 3 game. The first quarter was a fairly even affair with Cardiff closing the first 10 minutes out 26-22. The second 10 minutes didn’t quite go Raiders way with Cardiff City showing some early dominance and stretching their lead out to 13 points, 52-39.

Half time gave Raiders time to regroup and start their comeback, after 30 minutes of action the score was 71-61 giving Raiders a lot of work to do in the final quarter. Raiders gears started to turn in the last 10 minutes of the game and things look like they started to click, getting back to within 1 point with 4:02 left on the clock.

The final 4 minutes of the game was very back and forth until the final minute where Cardiff were more clinical in front of the hoop. A big 3 point shot and last minute break away layup saw Cardiff run out overall winner 92-88.

Tom Woods topped all scorers again with another impressive 26 points in the game, Dan Taylor added 23 points and head coach Gareth Laws had 20 points of his own.

On his first league defeat of the season head coach Gareth Laws said “The game proved to be exactly what we excepted with high quality basketball and a tense atmosphere.”

“We got off to a slow start while Cardiff came out firing on all cylinders and took an early lead and was able to maintain there composure and lead throughout the game.”

“We made some good runs after we finally settled and brought the game back within a respectable deficit and kept them under pressure throughout the game and even got it to 1 point with less than a minute to go but we just couldn’t get over the hump.”

“Both Tom Wood and Dan Taylor carried most the offensive attack and I was able to chip in as a 3rd option but despite a late rally by us and some grit and determination to try and take the game it wasn’t meant to be, Cardiff played extremely well, moved the ball and shot well and played as a unit, because of this they were able to capitalise.”

“Even though the loss is a tough one to swallow we know we were still more than capable of winning the game and feel it was one we let get away and we look forward to the rematch after the new year.”

“Still every game is a leaning experience and this is one we must learn from and move into the next game better than the last.”

Raiders now have a weekend off before back to back games at the start of December. Saturday 2nd see’s Raiders travel up the A38 to face off against Exeter Spartans before returning home on Sunday 3rd to play the return fixture against Gloucester City Kings. Tickets are on sale now, visit https://bit.ly/47DLcNM for more details.