Surrey Scorchers unable to get back on track in Manchester
Surrey Scorchers travelled to Manchester where they faced a Giants side having a few injury issues of their own as GB veteran Dan Clark and rising talent Josh Steel take a seat for Giants. Missing from the Scorchers Henry Wilkins, Adam Riabi, Jules Dang-Akodo and Legend Robertin are still on the injury list. New signing Sol Rolls-Tyson is still yet to join the squad.
Giants looked to seek out their first win for a while as they have been struggling of recent coming off a heavy loss to Bristol on Friday. The home side last saw a victory at Surrey Sports Park on the 5th of Feb.
It was a slow start from Scorchers in the opening minutes at Giants put the first 5 points on the board. Davis Jr got the scoring going for Scorchers with an offensive rebound. Scorchers looked to pound the ball inside early and bang down low to get shots inside the paint.
This saw Ringer in his second game for the Scorchers give us a one-point lead behind a couple of strong finishes. He would go on to finish with 18 points in a solid performance from the big man.
Off the bench for Giants Jordan Whelan would see out the quarter finishing with the foul to give Manchester the advantage after the opening 10 minutes 16 – 14.
Giants come out the 2nd quarter fired up as two quick defensive stops lead to back-to-back fast break dunks for Will Saunders and a time out called by Head Coach Raftopoulos.
Scorchers come back out in a zone on defence to give the Giants a different look and to protect some starters from foul trouble. Giants applied more pressure in a 1-2-2 press leading them to rhythm on offense taking a 12-point lead.
A dominant performance from Hamrick on the night as he wakes up the Scorchers after throwing down a thunderous dunk through the lane and followed it with a signature pull up jumper.
With the offense flowing, Scorchers and Giants trade buckets. Missed assignments results in sharpshooter Will Saunders knocking down shots from deep giving himself 13 points in the first half.
Giants made a big effort to keep Davis Jr quiet as the Scorchers leading scorer is limited to 4 points in the first half.
Hamrick starts the second half with a back door read for an easy two points. Offensively Surrey turned to taking a 1 pass shot enabling the home side to leak out for some easy buckets as Manchester dominant the 3rd quarter behind a stellar performance from McKnight.
Giants bench continued to contribute as Jack Hudson and Whelan did all the tangible things to give Giants the depth and fresh legs on a fatigued Scorchers side.
Guard Raftopoulos produced himself off the bench finishing the 3rd quarter strong controlling the offense and reducing the difference to 14 points with a minute to go.
As we entered the final quarter the belief of a comeback was quickly stamped on in the first 3 minutes as Raftopoulos was forced to call a time out.
Giants looking very confident and in full control of to steer this game to victory with a 20 point cushion between the two sides.
A positive for the Scorchers was seeing Ryan Ganniclefft match up against one of the league’s premier guards gaining great experience for the young Scorchers Academy player.
Lamar Hamrick put in a shift on the night with 22 points and 8 rebounds with a 71% field goal. However, the difference could be seen in bench production from Giants outscoring the Scorchers 43 -12.
Final Score 94 – 75
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