The Lakeland Royals suited up for another game this past Saturday against the only other undefeated team in the FBA. The Kissimmee Pride rolled into Lakeland with hopes of toppling the upstart Royals and becoming the only undefeated team in the league.
The game started as most of the Royals games have with the Royals getting a quick start and jumping out to 10 – 2 lead. However, the Pride refused to go away and continued to battle throughout the first quarter. With two minutes left in the first Quarter the Royals were up 22 – 17. The Pride went on a 7 – 2 run to bring the game back to a competitive level and at the end of the first quarter the game was tied at 24.
The Pride continued to battle hard with both teams going on runs and the game remained close for most of second quarter. Then the Royals began to step up their defense and started running the ball more consistently. As the quarter wore on the Royals began to pull away and frustrate the Pride. At the end of the half the Royals had a twelve point lead at 60 to 48.
The third quarter stated the way the game did with the Royals controlling the tempo and the flow of the game. The Pride were continuously frustrated by the defense and the inability to slow down the Royals as they continued to pull away. At the end of the third quarter the Royals had built an 18 point lead with a 86 – 68 score.
One of the most impressive things in the game was the play of the Royals bench. They would come into the game and make and immediate impact with excellent shooting and great defense. Each time the Royals subbed in it seemed the bench would put up and make some amazing three point shots and helped the Royals to continue to pull away.
The fourth quarter was filled with Fireworks. The frustrated Pride began to lose their composure and things got a bit chippy with a great deal of pushing and shoving. Several times the referees had to step in between players to keep things calmed down and with just over 8 minutes left, Remy, for the Pride, was ejected from the game. After a brief timeout to cool things down the game was restarted and the Royals continued to pull away with an amazing 39 point quarter to win 125 to 99 and remain the only undefeated team in the FBA.