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News British Basketball League

January 12, 2017 by Surrey Scorchers

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Surrey Scorchers kick-off a double game weekend with a home league match against Manchester Giants on Friday, before moving onto their BBL Trophy game away to London Lions on Saturday.

BBL Championship: Scorchers vs. Giants

Bristol Flyers win over Manchester Giants in the last game week, saw Surrey slip out of the play-offs for the first time since round 9. And while only baskets conceded separate them and Bristol, Surrey know that every game is a must-win.

Coming into the contest Scorchers will be full of confidence knowing that they have won three of their last four matches against the Giants. However, their defeat in that run came in the previous meeting between the two, when Manchester, who were looking for their first win of the season came out 91-79 on top. Surrey had been on a three-game winning run before losing in their opening match of 2017 and will see this as the perfect opportunity to get revenge over Manchester and to get their league form back on track.

Giants, on the other hand, have only picked up two victories since their win over the Scorchers and their form has taken a turn for the worst having lost their last eight matches, including in the BBL Trophy to lower league side Essex Leopards.

BBL Trophy: Lions vs. Scorchers

Surrey head to the Copper Box Arena on Saturday to get their BBL Trophy campaign underway against local rivals London Lions.

Scorchers have plenty of experience in cup matches this season having reached the semi-finals of the BBL Cup before falling to Glasgow Rocks. This time the team will be looking to go one further and will take a lot of positives from their previous run.  In the London Lions, however, they face a team who has beaten them in the past four matches, including two times already this season. The most recent defeat came in the opening game of 2017, when Scorchers went down fighting but ultimately lost, 92-103.

Despite beating Scorchers in their last game, Lions have suffered a dip in form of late as they have lost five out of their previous seven matches, including in the BBL Cup semi-final to Newcastle where they lost both legs. Having likewise suffered Cup heartache they’ll too want to put to put the record straight which should make for a fascinating contest.

Ones to watch

Captain Tayo Ogedengbe, scored an impressive 25 points in the defeat to London Lions, on the opening game of 2017, which brought his total up to 212 for the season. While top scorer Will Neighbour wasn’t too far behind with 22 making his total 264 for the season.

Lions’ Rashid Hassan is currently topping the BBL scoring table, with an average of 21.1ppg across the season thus far, making him a target man to shut down on Saturday evening.

Tickets and Coverage

Tickets for Friday night’s crucial home game vs Manchester Giants are available online now, and don’t forget that pre-sale is cheaper than on the door!

For those not making the trip to the Copper Box Arena on Saturday, you can watch the game live and in full at livebasketball.tv. Subscriptions are available now for £8.99 per month, giving you access to every BBL game as well as coverage from games across the European leagues.

Click here for more information.

You can follow both games through our Twitter account @Surreyscorchers or through the BBL Live Stats page by clicking here for the Giants game and here for the Lions.

Coach’s Corner

Watch this week’s episode of Coach’s Corner as Coach Creon looks ahead to the weekend fixtures and gives us an update on Chas Rollins and Jordan Williams.

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