Scorchers Progress in BBL Cup

Surrey Scorchers set the BBL alight at the weekend with two incredible performances, including a first win of the 2016/17 season.

Surrey Scorchers 79-88 Leicester Riders (OT)

Reigning league champions Riders were tested to the max by their hosts on Friday evening, as debutant Quincy Taylor charged into the roster with a 22pt haul to almost pull off one of the shocks of the season so far.

Riders cruised to a 2-12 lead early on in the tie, before a Will Neighbour 3 allowed his side to lead by one at 18-17. Big defence allowed Surrey to twice force their opponents to be beaten by the shot clock and take a 23-22 lead into the first break.

Surrey ran out in with a 10-2 run early in Q2, with Riders taking a full 5 minutes to find a bucket. Taylor bagged 9 scoring baskets out of 10 attempts, including a big 3 towards the closing minutes of the half, pushing Scorchers’ lead to 47-28 and leaving the Leicester with an uphill task.

It was then that the table started to turn, with Riders inflicting a similar punishment on their hosts in Q3. An early 2-12 run allowed them to claw the game back and take a 52-52 lead into the final stanza.

Albert Margai kicked off Q4 with a 3 to hand the lead back to Surrey, before Tayo Ogedengbe’s back-to-back buckets from down town pushed the advantage to 7 late on. Riders were still capable of the fight back though, and a Drew Sullivan dunk with 11 seconds to go took the game to overtime.

Neighbour opened his sides scoring with a lay-up for 2, but the impressive Taylor King turned it on for his side to score 5 straight baskets and hand his side a thrilling 79-88 win.

Box Score
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Bristol Flyers 71-79 Surrey Scorchers (BBL Cup)

Surrey Scorchers have progressed through the first round of the BBL Cup for the first time in three years after holding off a late fightback to beat Bristol Flyers 79-71, paced by a double-double of 18 points and 12 rebounds from Mike Ochereobia.

Scorchers – BBL Cup winners in 2007 – have a good record in Bristol with three wins in the four meetings there, and got off to a fast start as they opened and finished the first quarter with 6-0 bursts, the latter capped by Albert Margai’s three-pointer.

That run reached 16-2 over the first quarter break as Will Neighbour, who had six points in the run, and Tayo Ogedengbe added three-pointers. And Scorchers led 45-24 at the half, after Ochereobia’s ‘and-one’ play sparked the last 10 points of the second stanza, restricting their hosts to just 25% shooting.

But Scorchers, having lost their opening three games of the season, had to withstand a nervy second half. Bristol finished the third period with a 17-5 surge, including eight for Lovell Cook who ended up leading all scorers with 29; and when he and Hameed Ali hit fourth quarter triples the game was tied at 66 and Flyers had come back from as much as 24 down.
 
Jay Bowie settled Surrey’s nerves with a three-pointer, and that set up a dominant finish. They held their hosts scoreless for six minutes and rattled off 13 consecutive points, Neighbour adding another three as he shot 100% from beyond the arc on the night, to secure their first win of the season.

Surrey will now travel to Worcester Wolves in the quarter-finals on November 6th (tip-off TBC).

Box Score
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