Cheshire Phoenix avoided a third consecutive loss to start the new season as they came from behind to beat Leeds Force 88-68, on Sunday.
Colin O’Reilly’s side trailed by 12 heading into the interval, but produced an inspired second-half display to pull away with Marcel Mosley netting 30 points in the win.
“It’s great to get the first win out of the way,” said Josh Wilcher, who finished with 15 points and 11 assists.
“Obviously being down at half-time, we had our backs against the wall, but Colin really pumped us up for the second half and luckily we responded.
“Marcel was great – he really was our engine in the second half and helped get a lot of our offence going.”
One of the standout games of the weekend saw Leicester Riders come back from 21 points down to beat Surrey Scorchers 88-79 in overtime, despite a 25-point haul from Tayo Ogedengbe.
The Scorchers bounced back from the disappointment by progressing in the BBL Cup with a 79-71 victory away at Bristol Flyers to set up a quarter-final clash with Worcester Wolves.
There was to be more disappointment for the Flyers as they went down by 20 points in the capital less than 24 hours later as London Lions maintained their unbeaten start with an 86-66 triumph behind a combined 44 points from Rashad Hassan and Kai Williams.
Sheffield Sharks also claimed their first league win of the season on Friday night after defeating Worcester Wolves 78-64 on the road. Shaheed Davis scored 19 of his 24 points in the opening half.
However, Atiba Lyons’ side were unable to follow up their success after suffering a 95-66 loss at home to Plymouth Raiders. Donte Nicholas led the way with 20 points with Daryl Corletto and Rhys Carter adding 19 and 17 points respectively in valuable support.
Newcastle Eagles enjoyed a double-winning week after cruising past Manchester Giants 102-55 on Friday before coming away from the Emirates Arena with a 82-74 victory against Glasgow Rocks.
