The elites have gone by 10 pts in one of the boilovers of the season. The elites who were severely undermanned due to TRAN, SAM, TONY and RICHARD missing in action managed to start well by scoring the first 5 pts of the match before a mid-half lapse saw them allow the space cadets to score 16 of the next 18 pts to go into half time down by 9 (16-7). It was clear that the heat was getting to some of the players due to the hot weather and as such, plenty of subs and timeouts were called to allow players to rest.

 

The 2nd half saw the elites were able to score 9 of the first 13 pts early in the 2nd half to peg the margin back to 4 pts (20-16). That was as close as the elites got as the space cadets were able to hold the elites at bay each time the elites threaten to close in on the deficit. The elites were clearly exposed on the counter-attack where on several occasion, they werent able to flood back numbers in defence to stop the space cadets from getting easy baskets. This is understandable, considering the elites were fatiguing badly due to the heat and humidity on the courts and due to lack of subs. Clifford was one of the elites best players which saw him play his heart and soul out which saw him play 90% of the game and he contributed half of the teams total pts. He finished the game with 14 pts. Without him, the margin of the loss could have been far worse. This game clearly exposed the elites lack of fitness level required to run out a game of basketball, but at the same time, this has always been an issue which the elites have addressed by ensuring they have plenty of subs on the bench. This game was just one of those games where you just knew that it wasnt going to be the elites day due to several core players missing.