BBL Championship
Surrey Scorers 87-89 Plymouth City Patriots (25-23, 21-20, 17-27, 24-19)
Scorchers – Dobbs 18, McFauley 18, Lawrence 15; Patriots – 28, Gadsden 18, Byzantine 18
Plymouth City Patriots fans have traveled well on the road this season, especially when the team visited the Surrey Scorchers – and they did it again when they cruised to an 89-87 victory at Surrey Sports Park in this latest BBL Championship meeting between the two sides.
The victory fell on the shoulders of Rashad Hasan, who kept the scoreboard up all night with 28 points, but it was a dagger from Elvisi Dusha – who scored just five points for Plymouth – that sealed the victory in the closing seconds.
The last time the two teams met at Surrey Sports Park, the Patriots won 105-95, but two of the three games were competitive—and the Southern Redeemers went all out, hoping their team could get a one-win win between the two. .
A win for Plymouth would create a cushion over Newcastle Eagles for eighth place in the BBL Championship, and a potential place in the play-offs.
James Horn Jr. started as an attacker for Plymouth, putting them up early. He was found by Jules Dang-Akodo and twice by Elvisi Dusha, including a rare triple to go up 7-2.
It was a combined effort by the Scorchers to get back at it, but Josh McFolley got them level at 16 on a pair of successful free throws after a rack attack.
Hawthorn Jr. made his second mistake early on with a hard shutout on the Charleston Dobbs behind the three-point line. Dobbs could not put Surrey up front, but with Plymouth’s leading scorer on the bench, the visitors had to look elsewhere.
Sarri fed big man Boban Jakdonmi, who got a floating shot to tie it up, and followed it up with a free throw after being fouled.
Then Tayo Ogedengbe and Dobbs scored to give the home team the lead twice at the end of 10 minutes.
Andrew Lawrence opened the second quarter with a three for the Scorchers. Then he stole the ball and got a corner kick at the break that was considered goalkeeping, despite the competition.
Josh McFolley is starting to take over. He hit three, then found Josh Steele for another. The point guard then hit a hard fade from mid-range before pushing the ball forward in transition to a running Jacdonmi for a pass.
This gave the Scorchers their biggest lead of the game, 40-28.
After a timeout, each team hit the floor with new defensive schemes. Plymouth went into territory, forcing the Scorchers into a few hard attacking possessions.
Surrey, meanwhile, pressed the Plymouth full, slowing the visitors’ lead – however, quiet play by Elvisi Dosha found the open Gul Dang Okodu, who caught the pass in front of Rashad Hasan to slot in with ease.
In a semi-transitional play, Dosha ran a pick-and-roll in an open field with Dang-Okodo, leaving a lane for the late Hassan. Dosha found him for a great dunk and the Patriots got back into the game with less than two minutes left in the first half.
Plymouth continued to push the ball, even after Surrey scored, and staged another successful pick and roll with Dosha and Hassan gaining possession to cut the deficit to three – 46-43 at the half in Surrey’s favour.
It took less than two minutes in the third quarter for Plymouth to tie things up. Dosha got into the lane but found Hassan deep at the post to throw the ball into an alleyway.
Both teams wanted to run on offense, but Surrey crawled forward thanks to Andrew Lawrence, McFoley and Shachem Johnson sinking free throws.
Ryan Bysanth kept Plymouth within reach for one game, but it was tough physical basketball from both ends.
This meant that Hawthorn committed his fourth foul midway through the third, returning to the bench.
The Patriots still had a former BBL scoring champ on their side, and Hassan went to work at the post—lifting his defender up in the air with a fake pump and then dribbling through a layup.
Plymouth’s Ty Gadsden began to find holes in the Scorchers defence, as the home team’s all-out pressure on the field began to tire. He dodged the perimeter to step back three times, then got a layup to drop the next.
The visiting side’s final frame saw the entire court area defended. It was productive in stopping Surrey, but the Patriots struggled to get defensive rebounds and Johnson got a dunk for the Scorchers when it all fell apart for Plymouth after they allowed three offensive boards.
Gadsden scored the game’s most entertaining corner kick with a broken pass – he caught the ball with his left hand, dribbled once, and reversed the ball around his defender to deliver an acrobatic shot off the glass.
But the Scorchers kept resisting. McFauley tied it up with a pair of free throws, then Lawrence and Dobbs made a pick and pop made the latter lead from three to put his team up by the same amount.
Hassan fought hard on Plymouth’s attacking glass and got a result under pressure. He followed that up with another big bucket from a beautiful pass from Dosha to move one point ahead.
With a few minutes left in the game, Hawthorn returned for the Patriots and made an immediate impact with three big hitters atop the arc—his second of the game, having only scored 12 all season in the contest.
McFolley responded but the results and the lead went back and forth until less than 20 seconds to go.
Dosha got in the lane for Plymouth and hit a cool step back down the middle of the guard to put the Patriots up three with a few seconds to go.
The Scorchers tried to field the ball but Dusha turned it over and tried to pass the ball. He missed, but Hawthorn was there for a poor dunk to seal the victory.
This gave the Plymouth City Patriots a great opportunity to secure the final spot in the playoffs.
It may be down to the last game of the season, but Newcastle Eagles should have some luck on their side to see things fall in their favor in the last few games – starting tomorrow against Leicester Riders.
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