| Leicester Riders bounce back from previous night’s defeat in a close encounter win over Surrey Scorchers, allowing them to close the gap on the top four. |
| BBL Championship Surrey Scorchers 79 – 84 Leicester Riders (25-21, 36-42, 56-59) Leicester Riders bounced back from their second league defeat of the season to beat Surrey Scorchers 84-79 on the road, closing the gap on the top four with games in hand following their FIBA Europe Cup escapades. Riders have won all four of their road games in the BBL Championship so far, and hold 18 straight wins over Surrey in this competition going back over six years. Leading scorers – Quincy Taylor 24, Tayo Ogedengbe 21, Josh Steel 17 (Scorchers); DeAndre Burnett 23, JR Holder 19, Pierre Hampton 15 (Riders) Turning point – A tight game was broken open with big plays early in the fourth quarter as JR Holder hit a three-pointer on the shot clock buzzer and an Andy Thomson steal led to an easy score for Conner Washington. That became an 18-9 start to the period as Holder hit another triple for the first double-digit lead of the game at 77-65. Surrey got it back to one possession inside the final 30 seconds, but Willie Atwood missed the opportunity to tie the game. Key stat – Riders won the game by scoring nearly half of their points from beyond the arc. They made 13 three-pointers at 43% for 39 of their total points, with Burnett and Holder hitting nine of those between them. Game hero(es) – DeAndre Burnett led the scoring with 23 points for Riders including 5-9 (55%) three-pointers, while JR Holder added 19 including big plays in the fourth quarter, himself shooting 4-7 (57%) from beyond the arc. |
|
