Pride 1sts welcomed Padgate Giants to St Augustines knowing they would prove a difficult test after they competed hard last season being beaten by Pride 2nds in the playoff semi-final en route to Pride lifting the trophy. A vibrant squad of 12 kitted up looking sharp in the new kit sponsored by Leyland Packaging. It was a vibrant start. Pride played with intensity from the off with Paulino bossing the inside game and impressing early at both ends. Padgate put together a couple of nice plays to get on the board in particular running a dish and dump offence that was creating assists and buckets. Jamie Defoe got some early scores in the paint meaning Pride had hit a rhythm, only a late Padgate run would mean they were pegged back to 17-12 at the end of the 1st.

The 2nd quarter brought changes with a busy bench meaning rotation was key. The bench injected further intensity following on from the work that the starters had put the opposition through with solid partnerships inside formed between Danny Farnell and Jamie MacGregor and latterly Andy Thrower and Joel Augustine. Isaac Litchmore pushed the ball hard working alongside Craig Wright and Harry Parr to keep the intensity. The space created inside by the bigs left the Padgate zone collapsing to create space out wide. Owen Stanley opened his evening account with a 3 ball the space allowed and then followed up the next play with a nice fake and drive to draw the foul and get to the stripe. An impressive 2nd quarter which Pride bossed 25-12 left the game 42-24 at the half.

A rousing team talk from coach Szostak asked the team to build on the positive 1st half display. The team did exactly that. The starting 5 went out and pushed the lead further with Harry Parr creating some productive offence off the dribble and the energetic Simon Kehoe continually running to space the floor when Pride got a stop. Padgate, to their credit would not lye down and they produced some decent basketball and some unbelievable finishes from their guards fading away and banking it in. Pride had too much though and Joel, Danny and Jamie Defoe scored in quick succession to lead the game 63-34 at the end of the 3rd.

The final quarter continued in similar vein with Pride's best defensive quarter only allowing 8 points. Harry Parr and Andy Thrower got some nice interchanges going with the pair scoring 9 consecutive Pride points between them. The game ended with Pride notching up the 2nd straight win of the season, 79-42.

MVP - Team

A great team performance with positive reinforcement and support from the bench, some solid execution of the sets and decent intensity. Work still to do but for sure a momentum builder. Pride next host Our Ladies on Thursday 18th October tip at 8:15pm.

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