{"id":899233,"date":"2026-09-20T19:32:20","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T19:32:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/899233\/"},"modified":"2026-09-20T19:32:20","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T19:32:20","slug":"gladiators-begin-2026-27-campaign-with-victory-over-liverpool-basketball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/899233\/","title":{"rendered":"Gladiators Begin 2026\/27 Campaign with Victory Over Liverpool Basketball"},"content":{"rendered":"

The new-look Caledonia Gladiators opened their 2026\/27 Super League Basketball campaign in style, defeating Liverpool Basketball 78 \u2013 73 in a hard-fought season opener at Playsport Arena.<\/p>\n

In a historic afternoon for both sides, the Gladiators welcomed Liverpool Basketball to the Super League Basketball for their first-ever game in the competition, with a sell-out crowd at Playsport Arena creating an electric atmosphere for the opening game of the new campaign.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The visitors started brightly, edging the opening quarter 22 \u2013 18, but the Gladiators quickly settled into their rhythm and responded with an 18 \u2013 19 second quarter to head into the interval trailing by five at 41 \u2013 36.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The third quarter saw the two sides trade baskets, with Liverpool maintaining their advantage heading into the final ten minutes. With everything still to play for, the Gladiators turned up the intensity when it mattered most.<\/p>\n

Caledonia produced their strongest quarter of the afternoon in the fourth, outscoring Liverpool 24 \u2013 17 to complete the comeback and secure a 78 \u2013 73 victory.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Leading the charge was\u00a0Al-Amir Dawes, who was named the Gladiators\u2019\u00a0MVP\u00a0following an energetic performance. Dawes finished with\u00a023 points, shooting 8-of-19 from the field and 4-of-10 from three.<\/p>\n

His energy helped drive the Gladiators throughout the contest, particularly as they battled their way back into the game during the second half.<\/p>\n

Terry Roberts\u00a0also played a key role in the victory, contributing\u00a016 points, 4 assists and 3 blocks. With the game finely poised in the closing stages, Roberts stepped up with a\u00a0clutch three-pointer\u00a0to help give the Gladiators the momentum they needed to close out the historic season opener.<\/p>\n

There were also strong contributions across the new-look Gladiators roster.\u00a0Matt Zona\u00a0recorded a double-double with\u00a010 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks, while\u00a0Kyle Jimenez\u00a0provided six assists alongside seven rebounds.\u00a0Jay Nagle\u00a0added 7 points and five rebounds, with the Gladiators\u2019 bench contributing 19 points.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The numbers reflected a competitive battle, with Caledonia shooting 31% from the three and connecting on 12 three-pointers, while their defensive pressure produced 11 steals and 7 blocks.<\/p>\n

After Liverpool held the advantage for much of the opening three quarters, the Gladiators\u2019 fourth-quarter response proved decisive.<\/p>\n

A new season. A new-look Gladiators. And a winning start to 2026\/27.<\/p>\n

Caledonia Gladiators 78\u201373 Liverpool Basketball
Q1: 18\u201322
Q2: 18\u201319
Q3: 18\u201315
Q4: 24\u201317<\/p>\n

Top scorers:\u00a0Al-Amir Dawes \u2013 23, Terry Roberts \u2013 16
MVP:\u00a0Al-Amir Dawes<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Match Report brought to you by Best Betting Sites, learn more at https:\/\/www.bestbettingsites.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Caledonia<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The new-look Caledonia Gladiators opened their 2026\/27 Super League Basketball campaign in style, defeating Liverpool Basketball 78 \u2013…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":899234,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-899233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=899233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899233\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/899234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=899233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=899233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=899233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}