Game 11 saw the 5th placed Sovereign Knights go up against the shoulder and knee strapped lads from Saints Blue. This game was built to form a pivotal part of the season for the Sovs, with a win bolstering the chances for the team to cement a place in the post-season activities.

This week’s cast included the reappearance of Rainbow Age along with the usual suspects of Ro starting at the 5 and the Widdison boys in the frontcourt, whilst the Pocket Rocket and Al started in the backcourt.

The game started seemingly at a casual pace with Ro rising above his grey haired opponent to win the tip to Simon, which put the Sovs straight into offence. The ball was passed around quickly and with some quick slide of hand, Mark was able to get the first 2 points for the game.

Throughout the first half the Sovs and the Saints were travelling neck and neck on the scoreboard with all of the points coming from Mark and Simon through superior inside work and perimeter shooting respectively.

In defence the Sovs were hanging tough with Ro and the Widdison boys and stoping any shot that was taken from inside the paint. Unfortunately the passing around the 3-point line by the Saints was running the guards ragged and created numerous opportunities for No. 32 (Fuzzy Wuzzy) to shoot some clean net.

Things remained somewhat tight coming into the halftime break with the Sovs only down by 9 points due to the crisp shooting from Fuzzy Wuzzy. Coach Matt Lee decided to implement the full court man-to-man pressure in the 2nd half to force further turnovers from the Saints and run their old weary legs off the court.

The Sovs came into the 2nd half looking to share the scoring load and big man Ro took it upon himself to the fire the team up by dominating the boards at both ends, throwing up shots and drawing fouls. To summarise one fan said “I wouldn’t want to be anywhere near the ring at the moment, you’d get hurt!”

With the increased aggression in defence the Sovs began to slowly peg the lead back as Age prevented Fuzzy Wuzzy from getting to the ball and scoring. This didn’t last for long as the defence plummeted into disarray as the Saints slowly picked it apart with timely passes.

The Saints piled on the points and created an insurmountable lead towards the end of the game. The only highlight of the final passages of play was from the housemates yet again, with Alex driving hard to the basket and drawing players towards him. The sixth sense of Age told him to cut baseline just in time to jump and receive a perfectly delivered ball over the Saints defence for an impressive alley.

In the end the Saints triumphed with a 44-26 win over the Sovs, and perhaps dousing their final hopes at the same time.