A developing local rivalry will step up a notch on Saturday when London Lions travel to Surrey Scorchers for the second time this season.
Scorchers are back in action following a two week break when they welcome Lions to Surrey Sports Park for a 7.30pm tip-off.
Scorchers have not been in action since slipping to a fourth loss in five, at the hands of Leeds Force on 13 November, so will be keen to show the work they have been putting in on the practice floor, with a more rounded roster in place including new signing K.C. Ross-Miller.
Pre-game, 25 junior Scorchers will enjoy our second Junior Game Day camp whilst Scorchers’ WBBL partners Sevenoaks Suns go up against Sheffield Hatters in the WBBL Trophy Quarter-Final. Tickets for this game are free, with a 4.30pm tip-off.
Saturday also sees the launch of the Scorchers Basketball Foundation. The Foundation will be selling Krispy-Kreme doughnuts whilst promoting their charity donation fundraising page, where you can help support the Foundation through buying your shopping online.
Surrey Scorchers vs Bristol Flyers
BBL Championship
Saturday 28th November 2015
7.30pm tip-off
Click here to buy tickets
Pre-match: Free-entry
WBBL Trophy Quarter-Final
Sevenoaks Suns v City of Sheffield Hatters – 4.30pm
The Opposition
London Lions travel to Surrey Sports Park two days after a 65-77 BBL Cup semi-final first leg home defeat at the hands of Leicester Riders.
Nigel Lloyd’s Lions currently sit fifth in the BBL Championship on 5-4, and last month took the spoils at Surrey Sports Park with an 81-89 overtime win in the BBL Cup First Round.
The Ones to Watch
Lions bring a host of talent including US guard Jaron Lane, British talent Nick Lewis, Allie Fullah and the Williams brothers Kai and Jamal.
The Roster
Scorchers’ new point guard K.C. Ross-Miller is a doubt to start after arriving in the country on Thursday, but looks set to feature at some point in front of the home Surrey Sports Park fans. Elsewhere, injury doubts still remain for both Henry Wilkins and Will Neighbour, with decisions set to be made on their availability by close-of-play Friday.
The Form
Coach Creon will be looking for his squad to return to winning ways after back-to-back defeats at the hands of Leeds Force and Bristol Flyers.
Scorchers last 6 games: WLLWLL
A return to BBL Championship action will be welcome after a tough night at home in the cup to Leicester Riders.
Lions last 6 games: LWWLWL
Three Points
• Lions are getting more points-per-game from their bench than any other BBL club, 30.11
• Scorchers are leading the league in free throw attempts, with 14.43 per-game
• Lions star Demond Watt made his return from injury last weekend with a 12-point, 11-rebound double-double after six weeks out
What they say:
Scorchers guard Tayo Ogedengbe: “So far this season we’ve had a few set-backs in terms of players coming in and out, a few teething problems.
“I feel like by the time the Christmas break comes around we’ll have a fully settled team. Those are the things are the things that can happen to teams that have been around for 10 years.”
Scorchers Coach Creon Raftopoulos; “Since we’ve been on court, we’ve been working hard to get everybody back off the injury list and on to court.
“I’m really excited to have K.C. join us. Everybody knows Elvisi has been doing a good job at the point guard position but we’ve been pretty thin there. KC is a natural point guard who can lead us and is also capable of getting some points where we need them.
“London Lions a very strong team who should be fighting for the title. The key to success for us today is going to be controlling the tempo and feeding off the energy from the fans on defence.”
Lions coach Nigel Lloyd: “They always play us tough and I think it's because it's kind of a local rivalry and they've got some London-born players in Tayo Ogedengbe and Elvisi Dusha.
“I think they are going to be playing better than they have been playing recently so we've got to ready for them.”
Coverage
We will have live updates on Facebook and Twitter, plus you can check out the official BBL LiveStats by clicking here: http://www.fibalivestats.com/u/BBL/133776/
Game Programme