Having secured promotion and become National League Division 4 North Champions the week before, Raptors faced third from bottom Oldham Titans in their last regular season game. Titans like Raptors made their debut in the National League for the first time this season but unlike the Rossendale team have struggled to compete at the higher standard. However they have picked up recently and have won their last two games.
Raptors were missing the services of Kornecki (Foot injury) and Estrada (Wrist injury) and had two players coming back after illness, but coach John Allerston was kitted up for the game. Coach Fry started with an unfamiliar first five which trailed momentarily by one point but then raced out to a seventeen point lead. Matt Allerston started the ball rolling with a fine interception at the top of the key which led to a breakaway basket for Raptors Platt scored two strong inside baskets on his first five debut. During this period the Raptors’ press worked very well and Gayle cashed in on some easy
baskets. Slabu and Cowell did some good work inside the Oldham defence resulting in good scores. Unfortunately during the last three minutes of the quarter Raptors over-complicated their offence and their defence against the drive was poor. This allowed Titans to score eleven points without reply and bring them back to only five points behind at 22 – 17.
The next period saw a surge in the Raptors’ scoring although their defence was still a bit suspect. Titans could not take advantage and with Gayle probing the Oldham defence and handing off to others to score the points began to accumulate. Ngara drove hard to the basket to score a finger roll, and Lindsay having scored inside stepped out to hit a cool three-pointer. Almost with his first touch of the ball after coming on, Masser also hit a precise three-pointer as well and Titans knew that they were in for a beating at the hands of the League Champions. Titans centre Mubiru, a 6’8” Ugandan, managed to get free inside the key several times but under pressure he missed several easy shots. Meanwhile Slabu, Ngara, Graham and M.Allerston were adding to the total helped by steals from Gayle and Masser. Half time came with Raptors in total control and in the lead by 54 -27.
The third quarter was a bit of an anti-climax with several basic turnovers by Raptors but Gayle was finding his range from outside hitting one amazing three-pointer from ten feet beyond the required distance. Williams having lost possession in mid court managed to get back to check the shot of a Titan player but the Oldham team did manage to score some easy buckets due to poor defensive rebounding by Raptors. Assistant coach J.Allerston came on towards the end of the quarter and slotted his first shot from medium range. The end of the quarter saw a lead of 76 – 41 by Raptors.
The final quarter saw some brilliant periods of play by all the Raptors players with an interception and fine assist by sixty year old J.Allerston leading the way. Slabu also got into the act scoring nine points in less than two minutes, as did Cowell with three excellent conversions. The game finished with only token defence from either side and both teams swapping scores but Raptors scored an amazing forty points in the quarter to finish victors by exactly fifty points 116 – 66. Harvey for Titans, who is still only sixteen, deserves credit for his control and 14 points in the game.
For Raptors Gayle again cruised to 47 points, 8 rebounds and 10 assists. Slabu with 17 points, 10 rebounds, Cowell with 15 points, 8 rebounds and Pratt with 13 points were the other major contributors although every player on the Raptors team made a telling contribution to the win.
Raptors now go into the National play-offs and face local rivals Stockport Falcons II, whom they have beaten twice this season, in the quarter-finals next Saturday at Haslingden.