Paternostro Hits 100…with more to come

Paternostro took over as Riders’ play-caller in September 2008 and is comfortably the club’s most successful coach in their 45-year history, and he was clearly delighted with the win:

“The best part about winning the 100th game was hearing from the many former players that I have had, we have had a lot of great players who were also great people and that is what makes this job special.”

Paternostro knows his side still face a tough season ahead of them: “In the game against the Jets on Saturday we looked very good at times and at other times we struggled.

“We have a long way to go but I’m encouraged that in both victories we have played very hard and played unselfishly and have showed the ability to defend. At this stage our defence is ahead of our offense but we will use these two weeks to continue to improve in many areas.

“We understand that with five key players brand new to the BBL it will take time but we feel like we will continue to improve every day.

“I thought John Fraley was again very strong in the paint with 16 [points] and 14 [rebounds] and I thought Pavol Losonsky was able to give us a very productive game. It was nice to see Zaire Taylor have a big game, he played well on both ends of the floor.”

Paternostro did have praise for the new-look Cheshire side who made Riders fight all the way for the victory: “Credit the Jets, James [Hamilton] had a game plan to slow the game down and it was effective because they were able to hit some very difficult shots especially very late in the shot clock.

“Chez Marks was on fire he is a guy who knows how to score in this league, but through all that we were able to stay composed and pull through in the end.”

Story – BBL