BBL Week 6 Headlines: Scorchers off the march, Bristol flying high

Image credit: British Basketball League

The latest round of action saw the top two sides both enjoy double-winning weekends, while Surrey Scorchers finally ended their winning drought.

Scorchers end losing start

Surrey Scorchers finally tasted victory in their 2023-24 campaign after an impressive 98-72 victory over Manchester Giants on Saturday evening. Two-time league MVP Justin Robinson top scored with 23 points from the bench as the Scorchers led by as many as 30 points in the contest.

The Scorchers would then lose 82-70 away at unbeaten leaders London Lions, while it was a second defeat of the weekend for Manchester.

Flyers at the double to go second

Andreas Kapoulas’ side are up to second in the standings after two weekend victories took them to 6-3 in the league. Bristol began the week with an 87-91 triumph away at the Giants on Thursday with a big second quarter setting up the success before overcoming Newcastle Eagles 97-83, despite a 36-point effort from Rickey McGill.

Eagles edge rivals Riders in tense battle

It was a split weekend for the Eagles as they had first managed to beat Leicester Riders 95-90 on Friday night. McGill had another big outing with 31 points with the hosts going 13-of-24 from three-point range in the win, which contained several clashes throughout.

Elsewhere, London had picked up the first of two weekend victories on their way to 10-0 as they saw off Sheffield Sharks 76-92 on the road. The Sharks dropped to 4-5 in the league as they also fell to an 87-83 defeat away at Caledonia Gladiators with Lukas Palyza scoring 23 points.

Cheshire Phoenix rounded out the weekend’s action with an 89-77 success over Plymouth City Patriots to climb into third spot.

Results: Giants 87-91 Flyers, Eagles 95-90 Riders, Sharks 76-92 Lions, Scorchers 98-72 Giants, Flyers 97-83 Eagles, Gladiators 87-83 Sharks, Lions 82-70 Scorchers, Phoenix 89-77 Patriots

Standings: Lions 10-0; Flyers 6-3; Phoenix 5-3; Gladiators 4-2; Riders 4-3; Sharks 4-5, Eagles 3-5; Giants 2-6; Scorchers 1-6; Patriots 1-7

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