Bristol Flyers 87-70 Surrey Scorchers (24-10, 24-22, 23-17, 16-21)
Flyers – Watson-Gale 21, Bell 19, Oleson 15; Scorchers – McFolley 22, Steel 13, Carey/Johnson 10
London Lions 96-62 Plymouth City Patriots (21-16, 32-8, 18-25, 25-13)
Lions – Haruban 25, Nelson 19, Zupsek 15; The Patriots – Bysanthi 18, Hassan 16, Dang Akodu 10
Leicester Raiders 85-76B Brown Sheffield Sharks (16-14, 16-15, 25-26, 28-21)
Raiders – Loving 25, Jackson 13, McKenzie 11; Sharks – Delpache / Glasgow Junior / Nelson / Pepkins 12
With no places in the play-offs and seeding in most of the table matches, the London Lions made sure the competition kept going thanks to a resounding victory over the Plymouth City Patriots.
The Lions’ 34-point victory, thanks to 25 from Fojtek Hroban, meant the Patriots would go into the weekend game against the Newcastle Eagles with a playoff spot on the goal line.
Bristol Flyers did everything they could to fight for second place, beating the Surrey Scorchers 87-70 – with Jelani Watson-Gale leading on 21 points.
But Leicester Raiders’ victory over the B Braun Sheffield Sharks meant the Flyers would drop to the third seed.
Mark Loving was outstanding for Leicester, dropping 25 points and grabbing 10 rebounds to pull off a nine-point victory in a game that was close until the last few seconds.
The reason why the Bristol Flyers have soared around the top of the BBL Championship this year is a great defense and methodical offense.
These were on full display throughout the first quarter against the visiting Surrey Scorchers, meaning they were able to build a 24-10 lead going into the first quarter.
The main reason behind the progression was the steady flow of attack from the dynamic goalkeeper duo of Thomas Bell III and Jelani Watson-Gyle. They managed 14 of them within the first 10 minutes, but in very different ways.
It felt like Bell reached the free-throw line every time he drove to the basket, while Watson-Gayle’s midrange was on point with beautiful floats and jumps.
In the second quarter, the Scorchers managed to loosen up the defensive chains that Bristol had put on them in the first quarter.
Josh McFolley led the comeback. He was relentlessly attacking the basket and scored 13 of his team’s 22 points in the quarter.
This opened up some space for his teammates, including a dunk by Shachem Johnson who closed the gap to nine, and Taiyo Ogedengbe three.
A time-out by Bristol manager Andreas Capoulas refocused the home side and found Watson-Gale open for three in a row.
Teammate Mike Miller helped score to push the lead to 48-32 at halftime.
It was a back-and-forth affair to open the third quarter, with McFoley and Kyle Curry scoring and assisting on multiple buckets early on to fight for Surrey.
But Bristol’s Tevin Oleson wouldn’t let the Scorchers get back into the game so easily.
The keeper found different ways to score, firing the leading pass to Malcolm Delpetchy who brought the action of the Bristol crowd alive.
Surrey worked hard to close the gap into fourth place, but the 22-point deficit was too much to overcome, and Bristol won 87-70.
If BBL champions London Lions thought they were in for an easy ride when the Plymouth City Patriots entered the Copper Box Arena, the first few minutes didn’t pan out to script.
London’s Vojtek Hruban was a perfect first, scoring inside and outside the three-point line. But Plymouth matched the home team’s basket with the basket.
However, the final few minutes of the opening frame saw Tarek Philippe return for the first time since returning from injury. His pace-pushing presence and forward passing helped create a break at the end of the 10-minute mark, including a big three from Luke Nelson.
This continued to grow in the second quarter. Aaron Best led the way for London after hitting a three-goal, followed by an extra layup and an extra free throw on the foul for six quick points.
London’s defense was excellent, and it took nearly seven minutes for Plymouth to score in the second quarter.
Once the gap opened, the lions relaxed and started to play.
Nothing exemplifies this more than when Jordan Taylor was doubled on the left block facing away from the basket, but he fired a two-handed pass no-look over his head into the opposite corner to find two runs open for three.
This pushed the lead to 30 with three minutes remaining in the first half.
The gap was huge, but the Patriots entered the second half with a big fight.
Point guard Elvisi Dusha found a number of ways for Ralph Bissainthe and Jules Dang-Akodo to hit multiple triples.
Dusha and Bissainthe’s last connection cut the gap to 16, before the bouncer took a much needed breath.
The switch slowed Plymouth’s attack, when London’s Nelson hit two big threes and raised the deficit to 22 points in the final ten minutes.
London won the league with a record six matches remaining for a reason. They came out of the break between the third and fourth quarters with a new focus and increased the intensity of their defense.
Holding the Patriots to 13 points in the quarter, the Lions again increased the lead to over 30 points and gave home fans something to cheer when Mie Oni dribbled past two defenders in the halfcourt, when he was behind his back and drove to the fairway before. He kicked to Mo Soluade for three.
A dunk by Tomislav Zubcic gave London a 96-62 win over Plymouth, who are in a play-off game against Newcastle Eagles on Sunday.
The playoff rating was still up for grabs at the Morningside Arena for B Braun Sheffield Sharks when they traveled south to play Leicester Riders.
The Raiders needed to win if they wanted to take second place in the table, but the Sharks had a chance to finish fifth.
You can feel the intensity as each team was shot in the first 10 minutes. They were separated by just two points in favor of the home team, thanks to Mark Loving, who shot three times to give his team the advantage on final quarter possessions.
Loving hit another triple to open the second quarter, inspiring his teammates to join the scoring streak – his dunk a few minutes later created a gap of 11.
Sheffield’s Marcus Delbisch overextended their defense and forced a few points drop, giving his side the chance to win six in a row, including a Yalon Pepkins dunk.
Pipkins was excited to come out with a transition for another jam to put an exclamation point on the comeback and went for a windmill dunk, but he nailed it.
This gave Carrington Love the opportunity to return to the other end of the field quickly to stop Leicester.
Every team’s defense made life difficult in the final few minutes, but Sheffield United kept coming back into contention and the first half ended 32-29.
Sheffield finally took a languishing lead when Jordan Ratingeho gave his side the go-ahead early in the third quarter, and set up Delpeche later on for a potential score.
The big man was fouled and hit two free throws, but finished with a field goal the next to give the Sharks a five-point lead.
Kimbal Mackenzie sparked a comeback for the Knights by staggering seven straight for his team.
Said Nelson held the visitors back for a second with the third quarter over, but it was still all play for him with the Raiders leading 57-55.
Defense continued to be the calling card for both teams, but Sheffield’s foul play put Leicester to the test – a team with three of the league’s top ten free kickers.
Patrick Whelan hit five out of six from the charity bar, which helped create a nine-point gap – but it wouldn’t last long
Nelson attempted the long jump for the Sharks but knew he was out the moment the ball left his hand.
He chased a rebound into the corner, Delpeche gave him a good screen and the keeper rammed the middle of the guard into the lane that cut the gap to six with two minutes left in the game.
Pipkins hit a similar puller from the opposite side of the field to cut the gap to four a few catches later.
and a three-pointed Sheffield prospect by Kipper Nicholls hit the back of the edge and Lesters Loving grabbed the rebound.
A foul was committed, and the third best free throw shooters in the league hit both.
Gobril Adekoya played in Sharks coach Atiba Lyon’s final, something he has been used to in recent matches.
Lester made all the necessary free throws, and Zach Jackson sent fans home happy after he caught a bad pass to finish off a big dunk to secure second place in the BBL Championship.