Larry Austin Jr led from the front through the Cheshire Phoenix’s recent ordeals and was recognized for his efforts with the Molten BBL Player of the Month award for April.
Cheshire were down to seven players after two injuries seemingly at the end of the season, which meant Austin Jr – captain of the team – had to shoulder an increasing burden. In April’s eight games, the elite two-way guard averaged 17 points, eight rebounds, six assists and three steals, while shooting 55% from the floor and setting the tone as the Knicks’ flex mascot.
Most impressively, this included a hat-trick – only the third player to score one this season, and the first in his career – in Cheshire’s best attacking performance of the season as they beat Surrey Scorchers 105-81, Austin Jr scored 25 points on a 10-14 (71%) ) shooting, with 13 assists and 10 rebounds, along with seven steals while looking to hit an extremely rare quadruple.
He was also the dominant force across the court in North West’s Cheshire derby victory at the National Basketball Performance Centre, live on Sky Sports, as they beat arch-rivals the Manchester Giants to take the deciding showdown between the two teams, Austin. Junior scored 18 points with eight assists and six rebounds.
April ended with the Knicks avenging their BBL Cup Final loss to the Caledonia Gladiators by knocking them out of the BBL Playoff Quarterfinals, winning at home and home and away legs with Austin Jr. being particularly impressive at Cheshire Oaks Arena scoring 13 points with seven assists and five steals in Big double digit win.
On the season overall, he is the league’s ninth leading scorer (15.9 points per game), eighth in assists (4.8), fifth in field goal percentage (52.8%), and, a trait of his solid defense, is the league leader in steals. (2.6 per outing).
In his second season with the club, and first as captain, he was instrumental in leading Cheshire to their highest BBL Championship since 2015, securing a fifth-place finish as they went 7-2 in the final month of the regular season, and their first BBL semi-final play-off berth since 2016.