The Battle of the Basement Tour rolled into East Rutherford on Saturday, where the Ottawa Rebel needed a victory to help avoid finishing in last place for the fifth consecutive season, while the New Jersey Storm looked to avoid the same fate in its initial season.

Ottawa achieved its goal, as Ryan Painter scored four of them, sparking a five-goal second quarter run to lead the Rebel to a 12-10 victory over the Storm in front of 6,535 fans at the Continental Airlines Arena.

New Jersey looked to be in command of the game early, trading early first-quarter goals with the Rebel and jumping out to a 4-3 lead. With twenty seconds left, Ottawa pulled goaltender Matt Disher for the extra attacker, which nearly backfired as Matt Roik intercepted a pass and took a hailmary shot that was dead on net, but bounced just an inch too high over the crossbar.

The Rebel wouldn't learn its lesson, pulling Disher agains with five seconds left. This time, Roik made the save and took a desperation shot that was clearly off target. However, Disher came running off the bench attempting to make a diving save. He only got a small piece of it, and deflected the ball into the net, but time had just expired.

Coming into the second quarter down 4-3, the Rebel had a perfect power play opportunity to tie up the game. Ottawa nearly evened the game on the power play, but Scott Stewart stole the ball and scored shorthanded to give New Jersey a 5-3 lead. Cam Bomberry fired a rocket giving New Jersey a 6-3 lead, the biggest lead of the game for the Storm.

After regrouping with a time out, Ottawa rallied around Disher, who racked up nineteen second-quarter saves and shutout New Jersey for over fifteen minutes. The Rebel took control of every part of the game, scooping up 22 loose balls and barraging Roik with 21 shots. The score changed accordingly. Ottawa scored five in a row, three by Painter, with Stephan Evans and Dan Marohl nailing shorthanded goals. Painter scored his third with only 30 seconds left in the half, giving Ottawa an 8-6 lead going into the half.

The Storm came out of the locker room playing like it did against Washington and Philadelphia three weeks ago -- Roik was excellent, recording thirteen saves, and the New Jersey defense played spectacularly, dominating time of possession and holding Ottawa scoreless in the third. Stewart cut the Rebel lead to one goal, putting the ball past Disher and scoring his second of the night. Bomberry then scored a pair of power play goals, pushing his scoring total up to three goals and giving the Storm a 9-8 lead after three quarters.

Mike Benedict responded quickly for Ottawa, drawing a penalty and scoring seconds later on the power play, eening the game at nine only a minute into the final quarter, and D.J. Serr stuffed the go-ahead goal past Roik two minutes later. Hanley Holcomb came right back, however, scoring right off of the faceoff to tie the game for the sixth time. Dan Marohl scored the game winner with ten minutes to play, giving the Rebel an 11-10 lead. After a few huge defensive stands, Mike Benedict put the icing on the cake, and Ottawa left New Jersey with a win.

New Jersey falls to 3-11, while Ottawa improves to the same, a last-place tie that will come down to the final weekend. The teams meet again next Sunday at 7:00 PM at the Ottawa Civic Centre, a game which will decide the season's worst team.

BOX SUMMARY
                                      1  2  3  4     TOT
Ottawa Rebel (3-11)                   3  5  0  4  --  12
New Jersey Storm (3-11)               4  2  3  1  --  10

OTTAWA REBEL                  NEW JERSEY STORM
               G - A   PTS                   G - A   PTS
Painter        4 - 0     4    Panetta        1 - 3     4
Benedict       2 - 1     3    Ca Bomberry    3 - 0     3
Evans          1 - 2     3    Holcomb        2 - 0     2
Marohl         2 - 0     2    Stewart        2 - 0     2
Serr           2 - 0     2    D Squire       1 - 1     2
Cook           0 - 2     2    Bendig         0 - 2     2
Tarbell        1 - 0     1    Leigh          1 - 0     1
McLean         0 - 1     1    Nadelen        0 - 1     1

Shots on goal           51    Shots on goal           42
Saves made by           32    Saves made by           39
   Disher            32          Roik              39
Penalties                8    Penalties                7
Penalty Minutes         22    Penalty Minutes         30
Power Play Chances       5    Power Play Chances       8
Power Play Goals         2    Power Play Goals         2
   Benedict           1          Ca Bomberry        2
   Tarbell            1
Shorthanded Goals        1    Shorthanded Goals        1
   Marohl             1          Stewart            1
Loose Balls             68    Loose Balls             67
   Serr              11          Purdie            11
   Noganash           8          Leigh              7
   Konopliff          7          Roik               7
Faceoffs Won            13    Faceoffs Won            13
   McLean       (12- 7)          Hanford      (12-12)
   Raffan       ( 1- 6)          Purdie       ( 1- 1)

 *** STATS OFFICIAL BY VERIFY WITH NEW JERSEY STORM ***