Surrey Scorchers held off a late rally to secure an important road victory in the BBL Championship as they recorded a 90-93 win away at Cheshire Phoenix.
Creon Raftopoulos’ side completed the season sweep over Cheshire to distance themselves from the bottom three clubs, whilst moving level on points with eighth-placed Bristol Flyers.
The visitors never trailed in a contest they led by as many as 20 points, but were still made to work hard in the second half as Cheshire rallied.
Surrey did their damage early with an impressive 3-19 start that became 12-31 in a dominant opening eight and a half minutes.
The home side closed with a 6-0 run, but were soon down 20 in the second period. Cheshire produced another strong finish before half-time and were able to cut the gap to single figures with a 12-3 run in the third.
The deficit was further reduced to five points ahead of the final 10 minutes. Gabe McCray netted 8 of his game-high 27 points in a 10-0 run to make it 72-86 before Phoenix responded with a 10-0 run of their own.
Another burst saw Cheshire with the opportunity to take the lead in the final minute, but their 3-point attempt missed and Surrey sealed the win from the line.
All six Cheshire players reached double figures in a resilient effort and they remain four wins adrift of the crucial Play-Off spots despite the loss.
Scorchers are back at Surrey Sports Park this Friday for the big TV game against the Plymouth Raiders. Tickets for the game are on sale now.
Report from BBL.org.uk.