Home Domestic Leagues 2014-15 British Basketball League round up (week 4)

2014-15 British Basketball League round up (week 4)

Newcastle Eagles and Leicester Riders are the joint leaders of the BBL table, but the latter of the two was less than convincing.

RIDERS SPLIT GAMES 

Leicester Riders needed a game-winner from Conner Washington to secure a thrilling 88-87 win over the Cheshire Phoenix, where the lead changed hands a whopping 23 times.

In the end, dreadful Phoenix defending, led to a simple cut along to the baseline, which then resulted in Washington being left unmarked as he drained a simple two-pointer on the buzzer for the win.

It spoiled Cheshire’s moment, as GB international Gareth Murray scored to give the visitors an 86-85 lead with 2.2 seconds left, but Leicester had one more trick up their sleeve.

Neil Watson was the leading scorer for Riders with 21 points and 10 assists, while Demond Watt had 24 points and 12 rebounds for Cheshire.

Looking fatigued from the night before, Riders’ then lost to an in-form Glasgow Rocks side 80-71 in Scotland less than 24 hours later.

Tommy Freemand led the Rocks with 24 points, with another Great Britain international Kieron Achara adding 18 as Riders, who were missing Tyler Bernardini were handed their first loss of the season.

EAGLES SOARING; FLYERS GROUNDED 

Newcastle Eagles gave BBL new boys Bristol Flyers a reality check as the league champions comfortably won 98-72 in the north east.

Flyers started off the better of the two teams; as they raced to an early 9-2 lead, but the hosts quickly found their gears and a 10-2 run to end the first quarter, which saw them lead 23-18 was enough.

Andrew Thomson led the Eagles with 20 points on the night.

The Eagles would end the weekend with a 4-1 record after they won 88-81 on the road against Cheshire Phoenix, who endured two defeats in the space of 24 hours.

Charles Smith still proved that he has got it, as he poured in a game-high 30 points for Newcastle as they went to the top of the table, with Leicester.

Unfortunately for Bristol, their weekend was rounded off with a 72-61 home loss to Durham Wildcats. A miserably low-scoring first quarter, where Bristol led 9-8 then became 36-19 at half-time, as the visitors found their rhythm and despite nearly blowing a 20-point lead, got the win.

Joel Madourie had a game-high 16 points for Durham, while Doug Herring collected a team-high 12 for Flyers.

TWO OUT OF TWO FOR THE WILDCATS 

Durham’s win in Bristol was then followed by a 101-88 win at the Plymouth Raiders as they travelled back to the north east with two priceless road wins.

Panos Mayindombe led the Wildcats with 19 points as they move into joint fourth.

ELSEWHERE …  

Plymouth Raiders did get a win over the weekend though as they defeated another of the BBL’s new boys Leeds Force 83-79. For Leeds; they are still yet to get a win in the league this season after four attempts. After this showing though, they are mighty close.

Brent Benson led the Raiders with 20 points, with Darrell Bethune, for the Force, led all scorers with 21 points in vain.

Sheffield Sharks enjoyed a 96-80 win over Manchester Giants at the EISS. Nick Lewis led the Sharks with 20 points, but despite defeat, things got better for the Giants as 11 three-pointers from Stefan Gill and Ingus Bankevics between them helped Manchester to a 101-90 win over Surrey United.

Bankevics led Giants with 28 points with Gill adding 23.

For Surrey, their weekend got worse as they lost away to Worcester Wolves, as the Playoff champions comfortably ran out 82-68 winners.

Chavis Holmes led the Wolves with 23 points

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