Start of the second quarter. Both the Roarers and Tigers made rotations, giving their starters a breather.
The Iron Vault Arena hummed, but the scoring dried up fast.
Benches emptied, and the pace turned sluggish—missed shots, clunky possessions.
Then Stanley checked in for the Roarers, locking horns with Russo, his old rival from countless media comparisons.
The crowd's roar spiked, sensing their bad blood.
It was a gritty duel: Stanley swiped a steal, Russo forced a turnover. They traded blows, each refusing to yield.
Six minutes in, the scoreboard was knotted at 47–47, and both starting lineups stormed back onto the court.
But then, the Roarers hit a wall. Their outside shots clanked, and the Tigers' twin towers—Hartzell and Halvorsen—clogged the paint like a steel trap.
