Game 9 saw the Sovereign Knights welcome the Chameleon (Simon Lee) into the fold for his first game of the season with the purple and gold. The Sovs would square up against an athletic Lucksmiths team who were placed 7th before the game.

The Sovs went into the game without Chunka in the frontcourt due to his troublesome ankle injury. Yet the boys were confident that they could walk away with the win after their previous weeks victory.

The Sovs started off shakily with inaccurate passes being thrown and shots rimming out. Meanwhile the tall timber from the Lucksmiths were just warming up hitting the cord on numerous 10-12 foot attempts.

The Sovs managed to stay in touch with tough D being played by starting guards Simon and Azz in the backcourt. This allowed the Sovs to run the court, with pocket rocket Simon torching the opposition in transition.

The Rock (Mark Widdison – 14 points) was back to his usual best controlling the offensive tempo by setting timely screens and rolling to the basket for some difficult lay-up attempts.

Play of the night however must go to the housemates for their sublime offensive movement prior to the halftime break. Pass Master (Alex) drove to the basket for the first time and through a cutting pass to Rainbow Robinson on the perimeter (who with a cry of ‘off’) hit a dazzling 3-point basket.

The Sovs came into the halftime break with an unfortunate 18-point defecate, simply due to a higher percentage of field shots made by the opposition. Nevertheless the shinboner spirit of the Sovs motivated them to lift in the second half.

So the Sovs came out running and played a much tighter zone defence that pressured the Lucksmiths into uncharacteristic turnovers that propelled the Sovs straight into their more aggressive style of offence.

At every opportunity the Sovs rotated the ball until a gap was made in the oppositions D for a drive and a simply pass to a free Sovs player. With Alex racking up assist after assist, the scoreboard ticked over with increasing speed and consequently closing the established gap.

The new general on D (Ro) took charge, effectively organising his charges and forcing further turnovers from the Lucksmiths. The clock was creeping under 2 minutes and the Sovs had a sniff, and pressed harder to close the gap.

With less than 30 seconds left the fresh Sovs only trailed by 7 points, with a quick 2 added on by hot hand Age. The momentum was slowed tragically with aggressive defence forcing Lucksmiths number 2 guard from the court with a possible broken ankle.

The Sovs managed to regain possession with fewer seconds left, but could not reduce the gap further, ending in a Lucksmiths win 36-31.