Only one 100% record remains in the BBL Championship after three weeks of action, while every team – bar Leicester Riders who have yet to play – has now registered at least one victory.
DBL Sharks Sheffield 73-80 London Lions
London Lions continued their strong start to the season with an 80-73 victory on the road against DBL Sharks Sheffield, at Ponds Forge.
Despite being without Justin Robinson, the visitors ran out to their third win of the season, using a 9-0 run in the second to take control before overpowering Sheffield in the second half to take a comfortable two points back to the capital. Ladarius Tabb led London with 21 points, whilst Jordan Spencer had 19 and 5 assists and Andre Lockhart finished with 16.
Jordan Spencer (@JC_SpencerUK) had 1️⃣9️⃣ points and 5️⃣ assists to help lead @London_Lions to their third win!#BritishBasketball #WeAreLondon pic.twitter.com/5tqRjxSKlm
— British Basketball League (@BBLofficial) October 7, 2018
Lions boss Vince Macaulay was pleased with the win:
“Anytime you win in this League you have to be happy, especially winning in Sheffield, however I wasn’t happy with our defensive intensity and how we started, we needed to make some adjustments which we did but we have to continue to get better and improve in a lot of areas. I thought Spencer and Lockhart played well, Tabb did what he does and I was delighted to give more and more game time to Paul Guede as he gets back into full speed.”
Sheffield were led by 17 from Rene Castro-Caneddy and 16 from Chris Alexander.
Esh Group Eagles Newcastle 110-60 London City Royals
Esh Group Eagles Newcastle maintained their unbeaten start to the season at the expense of London City Royals in a clinical display at Sport Central.
The Eagles move to 3-0 to sit top of the BBL Championship, while the Royals suffered their first-ever loss in the BBL. Newcastle set the tone early at both ends of the floor, racking up 28 points in the first quarter and never looked back, locking down the Royals before a 36-15 flourish in the fourth took the winning margin to 50 points.
Kai Williams scored all of his 19 points in the first half, while Darius Defoe and new recruit Jeremy Smith also added 19 points apiece, with the latter finishing with 7 rebounds and 7 assists.. Rahmon Fletcher again starred with 13 assists as six Eagles hit double figures in total.
“Every time we come out here we gotta make a statement and now we’re on to the next game,” Williams said. “Just hope that we keep this rolling.”
Will Neighbour and Deyshonee Much led Royals with 12 each.
Worcester Wolves 77-80 Bristol Flyers
Bristol Flyers recorded a second consecutive victory with a thrilling 80-77 win on the road in Worcester, courtesy of a Lewis Champion game winner.
Tie game… 20 seconds left…
Step up, Lewis Champion. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/nMu4lAXaF9
— Bristol Flyers (@BristolFlyers) October 5, 2018
After seeing the Wolves erase a 25-point deficit, Champion drained the game-winning three with just 20 seconds left on the clock to earn the Flyers victory.
“It’s a valuable win,” Bristol Head Coach Andreas Kapoulas said. We played some really good basketball for about three quarters and I think at the end the basketball gods wanted us to win because we deserved to win.”
Marcus Delpeche scored an efficient team-high 19 points, while Justin Gray added 18 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists.
Darell Combs led Worcester with 21, whilst Adam Thoseby had 19 and Miki Servera 9 assists.
Surrey Scorchers 94 – 116 Cheshire Phoenix
Cheshire Phoenix have made it three wins in a row, picking up their first road victory of the season with a comprehensive 116-94 defeat of Surrey Scorchers.
Q3 | Scorchers try to ignite a spark as @YM4Williams goes for the dunk.#ScorchersLive 🔥 pic.twitter.com/7rDYSrKDXj
— Surrey Scorchers (@surreyscorchers) October 6, 2018
It was a first win in their last four visits to Surrey, with the hosts having won five of the last six meetings between the teams, but now slipping to 0-4 for the season. Phoenix put up a massive 32 second quarter points, including an 11-2 finish to lead 56-44, a run capped by a Jordan Session three-pointer with their last offence of the half.
The visitors then opened the third quarter with a decisive 14-2 run as Session scored six more for 70-46. In all, it was a 25-4 surge in a six minute spell over the halftime break and they were never threatened from there.
Cheshire had an unstoppable trio of Momcilo Latinovic (26), Jordan Session (25) and Daniel Norl (23) who shot a combined 67% from the field. Latinovic led that, at 84%, while Session pulled in 15 rebounds for a big double-double.
Tayo Ogedengbe led Surrey with 22 points, Quincy Taylor had 20 and 6 assists, whilst Jordan Williams finished with 17.
Bristol Flyers 85 – 83 Radisson Red Glasgow Rocks
Bristol Flyers came through a second thriller in as many nights as they beat Glasgow Rocks 85-83, with Lewis Champion guiding them home once more in a game that went down to the wire.
With the teams close throughout, Rocks were leading heading into the final five minutes. But Lewis Champion inspired a run in which Bristol scored 10 in a row, including five for himself and getting a crucial steal to enable Daniel Edozie to score, as they led 75-70 inside the final three minutes. It was still close, settled by an ‘and-one’ play from Fred Thomas with 20 seconds remaining.
It’s a third win in a row for Flyers in the 2018/19 BBL Championship campaign, and they have also won four of the last five against Glasgow, including the last three on their home floor.
Lewis Champion made the big plays down the stretch, and finished with 18 points on 5-of-7 shooting. In addition, Tevin Falzon came from the bench to post a big double-double of 13 points and 10 rebounds, adding five assists.
Bouna Ndiaye and Greg Pryor led Glasgow with 15 each.
Cheshire Phoenix 61-78 DBL Sharks Sheffield
DBL Sharks Sheffield denied Cheshire Phoenix a double-winning weekend as they recorded a comfortable success on the road.
Alexander finds @Dirkwilliams11 for the alley-oop!!#BritishBasketball #FearTheFin pic.twitter.com/3dXaJed9B7
— British Basketball League (@BBLofficial) October 7, 2018
Dirk Williams fired in a trio of triples in the second quarter as the Sharks established control with a double-digit advantage and never looked back as Cheshire struggled to repeat their success from Saturday.
Williams starred for the Sharks with 22 points in the win, while Rob Marsden added a double-double with 16 points and 10 boards to add valuable support, and Matthew Don 11 points.
Atiba Lyons’ side bounced back from a home defeat on Friday to move to 2-3, while the Phoenix fall from joint-second with their second loss on the season.
Cheshire were led by 17 from Ashton Khan, 15 from Mocilo Latinovic and 12 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists from Dii’jon Allen-Jordan.
Manchester Giants 93-109 Surrey Scorchers
Surrey Scorchers ended their losing start to the season as they claimed their maiden triumph on the road at Manchester Giants.
Q3| You just can't leave @cayraf92 open like that! #ScorchersLive🔥 pic.twitter.com/J2sqLadxla
— Surrey Scorchers (@surreyscorchers) October 7, 2018
Creon Raftopoulos’ side avoided an 0-5 start as they powered past the century mark in points with the Giants dropping to 1-2. Surrey had the edge in the opening half in a high-scoring game and continued to push on as they fired in 59 points in the second half to pull away from their opponents, knocking down 16 three-pointers at a 55% clip.
Tayo Ogedengbe led his side with a 28-point haul in the win, while four other players hit double figures including Josh Steel, who also added 13 rebounds and four assists to his 14 points, and Quincy Taylor who had 10 assists with his 17 points.
Willie Clayton had 23 and 13 rebounds for Manchester, and Mike McCall finished with 20 points and 9 assists.
Plymouth Raiders 87-83 Radisson RED Glasgow Rocks
Plymouth Raiders picked up their second league win of the season with a hard-fought victory over Radisson RED Glasgow Rocks.
Both teams had their share of the lead through the opening three quarters, but the Raiders seized momentum in the fourth with a couple of big triples from Joonas Jarvelainen and held on down the stretch, despite a late scare.
Donte Nicholas had another huge game for the Raiders with 20 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists for a near triple-double effort, while Josh Wilcher top scored with 23 points in the win.
The result leaves the Rocks with a 1-4 record having been beaten twice in a South-West double-header this weekend, while Plymouth move to 2-2.
“We’re trying to make this court a tough place to come and win,” Plymouth Coach Paul James said. “So far 100%, 2 from 2 so it’s a great feeling”
Glasgow Rocks’ Bouna Ndiaye had 22, Kenny Carpenter 21, and Gareth Murray 11 points, 12 rebounds and 5 assists.
0 comments