Surrey Scorchers concluded their BBL campaign with a tight 97-100 defeat against Plymouth Raiders at Surrey Sports Park on Friday evening.
Creon Raftopoulos’ side were heading into the game with little to play for after their play-off hopes were ended last week, but they still delivered a determined display against Raiders.
Scorchers put out an unchanged side as they aimed to finish the season on a positive note, and they started strongly with some early scores to see them open up a 33-20 lead after the first quarter.
This included some powerful finishing from Emondre Rickman alongside sharp shooting from the likes of Lacey James, Tayo Ogedengbe and Dean Wanliss who all registered triples.
The second quarter saw Raiders carve a route back into the game with Ashley Hamilton posing a particular threat as he eventually ended the game as Raiders’ top scorer with 21 points.
However, Scorchers still managed to maintain their advantage at the interval, with Mayo Adeyeye scoring two free throws just before the buzzer to see the hosts take a 54-46 lead into the break.
Scorchers started the second half promisingly with Tony Hicks looking particularly dangerous through a string of successful jump shots, but Raiders continued their comeback to edge ahead at the end of the quarter.
The visitors took a 76-78 lead into the final 10 minutes of play and they managed to cling on to this advantage despite the best efforts of Ogedengbe who scored 12 points in the quarter.
Evan Walshe also went close to levelling the scores with an attempted triple in the last play of the game, but it didn’t make the basket and Scorchers ultimately ended their campaign with a three-point defeat.
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