Raptors 3rds 43 Thornleigh 45

Having lost narrowly to Thornleigh in the Cup three weeks ago, Raptors entertained them at home last Thursday. Whilst not at full strength Raptors hoped to continue their improving performance and started well going into the lead after five minutes and finishing the first quarter 11 – 8 ahead. The man–to–man defence adopted by Raptors was quite successful and limited the opposition score, but the home side could only stretch their lead to 23 – 18 at half time.

Switching to a zone defence in the third quarter Raptors managed to score more points but sadly allowed the more static Thornleigh team easy chances to take key shots and go into the last quarter only 4 points down.

Raptors just about held their own until the last five minutes of the game when Thornleigh crept into the lead. Both teams were tiring and several players were in foul trouble. Raptors missed several easy scores and lost their way under pressure. Turner and then Watts fouled out with minutes to go and Raptors failed to score for 3 minutes despite several good opportunities. With a deficit of 5 points Raptors decided to put some pressure on the opposition and the resulting press saw Sam Chicken reduce the arrears to only 2 points. Despite all the pressure and endeavour of the Raptors team they could not convert their efforts into points and finished the game 2 point in arrears.

A disappointed Raptors team can congratulate themselves on some good defensive play and good rebounding but must regret, to a man, their inability to keep the scoreboard ticking over consistently. Young Sam Chicken top scored with 13 points and Watts made 11 including 5 out of 6 from the line.