Preview: Scorchers @ Force

Surrey Scorchers head to Yorkshire on Friday evening for a tough trip to in-form Leeds Force at the Carnegie Sports Centre (tip-off 7.30pm).

Leeds Force vs Surrey Scorchers
BBL Championship
Friday 13th November 2015
7.30pm tip-off
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The Opposition

Leeds Force, formerly Leeds Carnegie, made their breakthrough into the BBL last season following six seasons in the EBL Division 1, securing an 11th place finish during their debut season with 10 wins.

The Yorkshire outfit enjoyed two wins in their three meetings against Surrey last season, including a thrilling 3 point victory at Surrey Sports Park in March, and have already recorded a win against Scorchers this year.

The Ones to Watch

Both Louis Sayers and D’Andre Bullard featured in the BBL All-Star 5 line-up this week after back-to-back wins for the Force and will be looking to take their side to a 3rd consecutive win this weekend.

British forward Robert Marsden currently sits joint top of the BBL’s top rebounders table thus far in 2015/16 and will be looking to overtake Bristol’s Daniel Edozie against Scorchers.

The Roster

Injury woes for Coach Creon caused a headache on Sunday afternoon, losing Will Neighbour in the opening minutes of the clash with Bristol due to a recurring shoulder problem on top of Henry Wilkins who was awaiting medical clearance after sustaining concussion in a previous game.

Neighbour returned to training this week and should be able to make the trip to Leeds, while Wilkins continues his recovery and will sit out for a least another weekend of action.

The Form

A tough home game against the Flyers on Sunday saw Scorchers suffer their third league defeat of the season to Andreas Kapoulas’ men, who took revenge for the last minute victory taken by Surrey on the opening night of the season.

Scorchers last 5 games: WLLWL

Two consecutive wins against Cheshire Phoenix and Plymouth Raiders saw Leeds propel themselves to 4th in the BBL Championship table, having played more games than any other side so far.

These wins came off back of four consecutive losses, which Leeds will be keen not to repeat if they are to continue their push for the Play-offs.

Force last 5 games: LLLWW

Andreas Schreiber says…

“We need to have composure going into the game against Leeds. They have constant pressure on defence and we cannot let that bother us. We need to stick to our principles, and believe in the system that we have in place.

“We need to limit our turnovers, rebound as a team, and we cannot let Louis Sayers get hot from three. I played with Louis when I was in Plymouth and he is a dead-eye sniper when he gets the hot hand. It will be a really interesting game, and we are very excited to bring it to their court again, hopefully with a taste of revenge in our mouth.”

Coverage

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