Along with many other domestic leagues, Britain’s BBL is underway, and BallinEurope’s agent over there/ProspectsInEurope editor Sam Chadwick rounds things up for us.
Welcome to the first British Basketball League Wrap of the 2012/13 season with a nice new lay-out. Some of you may have noticed newcomers to the league Manchester Giants as well as recently names Surrey Heat and London Lions; these two franchises take on from The Guildford Heat and MK Lions. The changes have come about for different reasons, as the Heat wanted to expand their fan base across Surrey while the Lions failed to secure a venue in Milton Keynes and were presented with an opportunity to move to the country’s capital.
Anyway, over to the weekend’s basketball action…
• Newcastle Eagles 81-73 Worcester Wolves
The first game of the weekend saw the Eagles in a surprisingly close game with the Worcester Wolves, who were without star point guard Sherrad Prezzie-Blue. Worcester managed to reduce the gap in the 2nd half but couldn’t pull off the upset over last season’s champs. For the Wolves, Stanley Ocitti put up a double-double with 19 points and 12 rebounds while Alex Owumi was all over the place with 16 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists. Eagles dominated inside with 26 points and 8 rebounds while Joe Chapman was 1 assist away from a double-double by putting up 17 points and 9 assists to go with 5 rebounds.
Top performers: Wolves – S. Ocitti – 19 points, 12 rebounds, 1 assist; A Owumi – 16 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals. Eagles – Darius Defoe – 26 points, 8 rebounds, 1 assist; Joe Chapman – 17 points, 5 rebounds, 9 assists.
• Manchester Giants 99 – 87 Sheffield Sharks
Manchester Giants continued their solid start to their new run of life in the BBL as they racked up win number 2 despite the best efforts of the Sharks who went into the halftime up 8. The Giants managed to claw back the lead in the 3rd quarter outscoring their opponent, 30-15. Sharks were led by Gage Daye who finished with 30 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists; Micah Williams added 22 points and Mike Tuck continued to be the solid contributor he was last season by adding 12 points and 9 rebounds.
Giants – J. Jones – 27 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists, 83% 3-pt; D. Watts – 20 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists; David Aliu – 13 points, 12 rebounds, 3 assists. Sharks – G. Daye – 30 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals; M. Williams – 22 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist.
• Leicester Riders 80 – 72 Cheshire Jets
Coming off the largest defeat in BBL history, the Jets managed to stay close with the Riders despite a 22-9 first quarter which saw the hosts up by 16 points. The Jets came back in the second half behind a 22-9 third quarter when Chez Marks managed to drop 13 points including three 3 pointers. The 4th quarter had both teams evenly matched but the Jets couldn’t get any closer and eventually went down by 8 points.
Riders – Z. Taylor – 21 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists; J. Fraley – 16 points, 14 rebounds, 78% FG; P. Losonsky – 19 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals. Jets – C. Marks – 28 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals; K. Moore – 14 points, 10 rebounds, 1 assist.
• Plymouth Raiders 108 – 86 London Lions
Jeremy Bell continued from where he finished last season, dominating the Raiders opening game to the line of 40 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists, he played almost the whole game (37 minutes) and missed just 10 shots (66% FG) on his way to 40 points he only attempted three 3-pointers and two free throws. In my opinion, the bench wasn’t used enough and although coach Love has stated that he will focus mainly on a rotation of seven players, in a 20-point win, six players clocked in over 24 minutes while two players didn’t come off the bench and club junior Tristan Hall managed just 80 seconds of court time.
Raiders – J. Bell – 40 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 66% FG; M. Ojo – 23 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 4 steals, 1 block; M. Schneck – 17 points, 13 rebounds, 1 block. Lions – O. Jackman – 16 points, 8 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals; D. James – 16 points, 7 rebounds, 1 steal, 71% FG; A. Sturt – 12 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 blocks.
• Sheffield Sharks 69 – 81 Surrey Heat
After a tense first half which saw the Sharks take a one-point lead into the halftime break, the Surrey Heat answered with a strong 3rd quarter, 24-7, and a 16-point fourth quarter lead. Led by Chavis Holmes who finished with a 21-point, 12-rebound double-double, the Heat managed to make it a 2-0 start to the season: a much improved record over last year’s 0-13 beginning.
Sharks – G. Daye – 16 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals; M. Tuck – 14 points, 12 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal; A. Bridge – 15 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals. Heat – C. Holmes – 21 points, 12 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals; S. Cricelli – 16 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals; M. McLemore – 17 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 6 steals.
Sam Chadwick is head coach of the Solent Kestrels U14 basketball team and manages the basketball-themed ProspectsInEurope.com, a partner website of BiE. Chadwick is now a contributor at BBLfans.com, and you can follow him on Twitter at @chadwick9.
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