Dublin Raiders - October 18th 2023 – Home.

Raiders have started the season strong with a 1 and 1 record, beating Malahide while losing to the Panda’s with the spread in each game being 10 point. Home game for us and we all got there early, had a great warm up but not all the shots were dropping. It still paid off with the team getting out of the blocks early and getting to the end of the first quarter with a lead of 8 points (24-16). We had a large bench, with a team of 12 so nobody was holding back. Second quarter started well but Raiders were not going to roll over. Our lead went out to 14 but within a few minutes Raiders had brought it down to 2. We called a timeout and worked to get it back under control. We worked hard on help side and stemmed the flow to finish the quarter with a 4 point spread 36-32). Third quarter was where the magic happened, the Luke show began with him hitting our first 10 points of the quarter, Daragh, obviously wanted to share the spotlight and dropped the next 6 points before Luke came back on track with the next 2. Conor then stepped in and nailed a 3 from downtown, the quarter was closed with Jonas powering inside for 2. Just as important was our defence, holding Raiders to single digits in the 3rd. We finished the quarter with a spread of 20 (61-41). The important thing was not to get complacent, mentally we set the score to 0-0 with the intention of wining the last quarter. Strong defence and offence kept us going in the forth with six different players on scoreboard in the quarter. 22-14, to bring the final score to 83-55. Highlights of the game, some great passing and dishes (have to mention Lewis’ pass inside to Daragh for a possible 3 point play, Lewis on being thanked for the pass, replies with don’t waste it and just hit the free throw, which we did). Luis, must have been taking lessons from some of his neighbours from the City Centre, only difference was he had more steals in one game than they would in a month. Top scorers for the night, Luke 24, Daragh 17, Luis 14. (9 players scored tonight, but every player contributed) 2 week break with next game, Wednesday 1st November against Barrow Rovers (one of the favourites to win the league)