Having travelled across the country to challenge the second-best team in the division, the Swan River Serpents entered the House of Pain arena with a single goal: Let the league know that they are rising. The home crowd were quickly stunned into silence as the Serpents opened up a 13-point lead by the end of the first quarter. The 'pain' was devilish for the Tassie side as the Serpents continued to go inside, their lead 22-points at half-time. Tassie Devils' coach, Tazdevil, was seen courtside before the start of the third quarter screaming at his players to lift. Harsh and heavy words like 'pitiful', 'scared' and 'humiliated' drifted into the nearby crowd and they responded in the only way they could; as one, they stood cheering and clapping as the third quarter started, desperate to get their team back into the game.
The Serpents, led by their young captain, Livingstone, who would finish the night with another triple-double, broke the Devils fans' hearts as the visitors poured on ...