Rossendale Raptors continued their climb up the EBL Four and are now second in the table following an impressive weekend of wins against Burnley Blaze and Bradford Maroons.

On Saturday they hosted Burnley, a side which had only lost one game in the league and were a very young, fit and fast team with an excellent defensive record, coached by American Malcolm Leak who has played in the NBA.

In front of over 100 spectators the game started slowly with both sides testing out each others defences, Raptors star man, Stephen Gayle claimed the first five points and Burnley replied with several outside shots as they found it difficult to penetrate the Raptors zone defence.

At the end of a fairly even quarter Raptors had a one-point lead at 16-15 but then they started to open up the game.

Throughout the second quarter, they denied Burnley any second chances, and with all their players on song, the Raptors team pulled down rebounds and quickly fed the ball to breaking players who converted the easy points.

Burnley had to rely heavily on their three main scorers hitting long range shots whereas Raptors spread their scoring among the five players on court. Steve Graham and Jon Slabu quickly made telling contributions and when half-time came the hosts were in control and leading by seven points.

Conscious of the youth and fitness of their opponents, Raptors went into the third quarter determined to control the game and this they did so in emphatic manner.

Slabu, Gayle, Mark and Matthew dominated the defensive boards and launched fast breaks that saw the Raptors dominate the opposition. At the other end Slabu was giving the Burnley defence a headache with tip-ins and rebounds.

Throughout the game Burnley had earmarked Gayle and put two and three men on him at times to try to nullify his scoring.

However, in this quarter Raptors exploited this by finding the unmarked player and converting easy points as well as feeding Gayle with easy chances to score.

The Rossendale team’s man-to-man defence was excellent at this time and restricted Burnley to only 10 points in the quarter, which finished with the home side 20 points in the lead.

The final quarter was academic as Raptors were never going to surrender any of their lead, and with coach Fry ringing the changes, all the squad got onto court.

After a slower start to the game Kornecki came to life and scored nine points in a five minute spell. All players contributed and a very satisfied Raptors team finished 87-59 winners.

The foundation to the win was excellent defence and rebounding, and at the end of the game, coaches Fry and Allerston congratulated the team on their control.

Main scorers: Gayle 32, Graham 15, Cowell 10, Kornecki 9, Slabu 8. Slabu also had 14 rebounds to his name and Gayle had 11.

It would have been easy for complacency to creep in after such a commanding win but Sunday’s game at Bradford was really a continuation of Saturday’s dominance.

Confidence oozed from every Raptor player and in an amazing first period the Rossendale team blew the opposition away with a 35-15 onslaught. Eight different players appeared on the score-sheet in this period.

Bradford had no answer to the scoring potential of the Raptors and the game was effectively over in the first 10 minutes. Rossendale’s usual top scorer, Gayle having stated his threat, with early points, was able to relax and facilitate the scoring of other team members, and by half-time had a dozen assists. The second quarter was a little closer but Raptors still took it by seven points and half-time saw Raptors lead 62-35.

With Bradford totally demoralised the remaining two periods saw more players come on to score and seven different players score from outside the three-point line.

Excellent defensive work from all players hustled the Bradford team into mistakes and with Aitor Estrada, Cowell and others controlling the defensive rebounds and feeding attacking players the score built.

Slabu, Raptor’s 6ft 8ins Romanian, now started to emphasise his presence at the offensive end and a combination of tips, rebounds and jump shots saw his score start to climb, and he finished with 31 points and 15 rebounds, Raptors topped the 100 to take the game 104 to 62. Top scorers were Slabu 31, Gayle 15, Ngara and Lindsay 9.

The scale and dominance of these two victories must put serious concerns into the minds of all the other title contenders.

If you would like to see the Raptors play all spectators are welcome. The next game promises to be an exciting one, as the Raptors host top-of-the-table Stockport at Haslingden Sports Centre on Saturday 10 December at 5pm.

http://menmedia.co.uk/rossendalefreepress/sport/s/1466748_raptors-flying-high-after-double-win