Leicester Riders claimed their third BBL Cup with an 83-69 victory over the Manchester Giants in Birmingham.
Playing in-front of a Cup final record crowd of 10,000, it was Geno Crandall who made the Utilita Arena his own stage, going for 26 points, six rebounds and five assists to grab MVP honours.
“It feels like hard work paid off,” Crandall said to Sky Sports, post-game.
“For a lot of us, we kind of expected this outcome, not to sound brash or overly confident but it’s the reason you train, the reason you come out and do what we do everyday so when we have these opportunities, we’re prepared. I think we came out and we executed our game plan.”
For Manchester, a first final since they were reborn in 2012, a valiant effort fell just short. Dan Clark, who battled all game long, not able to make it a double winning day for the Clark family after his father led London to WBBL Cup glory earlier in the day.
Riders, who pose the meanest defence in the BBL, only allowing 73 points-a-game, seemed to invite Manchester to fire from the perimeter at will, which the Giants took advantage of, leading at one point in the first by nine points.
Josh Steel hit on his first three shots with one three sandwiched in, combined with two triples from Clark, both signalling their intent to give Giants a 20-15 lead after one.
Riders though, fought their way back in the second and eventually took their first lead, four minutes into the second thanks to a mid-range jumper from Crandall, which ignited a 9-0 run to give Leicester a 29-22 lead.
Leicester were feeling it at both ends. Reminding everyone why they are current, unbeaten league leaders and with their trademark defence now resuming normal service, they held Manchester to just eight points in the second – the lowest second quarter score in a BBL Cup final – to lead 43-28 at the break.
Manchester though regrouped and found their rhythm, offensively, led by Tyrik Armstrong and with 3:29 left in the third, it was Jordan Whelan that drained a triple to make it a single-digit game at 54-45.
From scoring just eight, the quarter before, the Giants won the period, 23-15, to trail 60-51 heading into the final ten minutes. Hope?
Kimbal Mackenzie ended up playing Leicester’s saviour.
Mackenzie – who provides an outside threat off the bench – hit two quickfire three-pointers for 14 fourth quarter points in total to ultimately put the game beyond reach.
Photos courtesy of Mansoor Ahmed. Please do not use without permission.
