Riders Go down To Rocks & Split The weekend

The Riders and Cheshire Phoenix served up one of the best games of the season when they met on Saturday evening in the week’s BBL TV clash. The lead changed hands an incredible 23 times in a pulsating game and with just 2.2 seconds remaining, Cheshire’s Gareth Murray scored what appeared to be the winner.

But Riders weren’t finished and after a timeout, Conner Washington found himself wide open to score at the buzzer, giving his side an 88-87 victory.

The Riders didn’t have the same joy on Sunday after an 80-71 defeat at the improving Glasgow Rocks. Leicester was without Tyler Bernardini, who picked up an injury against Cheshire, and suffered at the hands of a game-high 24 points from the Rocks’ Tommy Freeman.

The big winners at the weekend were the North East teams, Durham Wildcats and Esh Group Eagles Newcastle, who both recorded a couple of victories.

Andy Thomson led all scorers with 20 points as the Eagles won 98-72 over Bristol Flyers on Friday and then on Sunday, the Eagles fought back to inflict an 81-88 defeat on Cheshire Phoenix.

A feisty encounter at the Northgate Arena was settled by Eagles’ Charles Smith whose 30 points helped Newcastle win a game they trailed for long stretches.

Durham Wildcats’ coach Lee Davie was delighted after his side picked up two much-needed wins on the road, against teams he expects to be battling for a play-off spot.

Joel Madourie had 16 points for Durham in the Wildcats’ 72-61 win at Bristol on Saturday, the first time the Flyers have lost at home in the BBL.

On Sunday, the Wildcats overcame a game-high 28 points from Plymouth University Raiders’ Brent Benson to record an impressive 101-88 victory.

“That was the message coming in that we wanted to make sure we try and put ourselves in a good position with head-to-heads,” said Davie.

Davie believes the signing of ex-Rocks forward Fran Urli has given the Wildcats some additional depth and also praised another new signing for his contributions.

“I thought Panos Mayindombe came in and did a good job,” said Davie of the Greek guard, who averaged 17.5 points in the two wins.

“He was active defensively, forcing deflections and getting steals, and was finishing at the other end of the floor in transition.”

Elsewhere, Nick Lewis’ 20-point haul for Sheffield Sharks helped his side to a 96-80 win over Manchester Giants on Friday while a few miles up the M1, Plymouth University Raiders denied Leeds Force their first BBL Championship win, Benson scoring a team-high 20 points in the Devon side’s 83-79 victory.

Finally, Surrey United put in a couple of good performances at the weekend and were unlucky to come away with nothing to show for it.

Despite a game-high 26 points from Trevor Setty, United fell to an 82-68 defeat at Worcester Wolves on Friday, after being outscored 23-14 in the final quarter.

Three-point shooting was the key on Sunday as Manchester Giants ended a three-game slump with a 101-90 victory over United, led by 28 points from Ingus Bankevics.

Joel Madourie Photo – HERE

Nick Lewis Photo – MPhotography

Story – BBL