The Bristol Flyers took flight in the third quarter as a devastating stretch saw them cruise past Plymouth City Patriots at the Pavilions.
A closely-contested first half was broken open as a 16-0 run helped the Flyers beat Plymouth 92-63 in British Basketball League action on Sunday.
Rowell Graham-Bell led five Flyers in double figures with 19 points, supported by 18 from Tejon Lucas, who dished six assists and pulled down nine rebounds.
TJ Atwood went for 30 points and 12 rebounds for Plymouth but fail to defeat as their head coach Paul James remains on 499 British Basketball League Championship wins.
Plymouth City Patriots Starting Five: Jacob Wiley, Mason Faulkner, Taylor Johnson, Elvisi Dusha, TJ Atwood.
Bristol Flyers Starting Five: Tejon Lucas, Tevin Olison, Kedrian Johnson, Rowell Graham-Bell, Brad Greene
First Half
One of the more recognisable rivalries in the British Basketball League, you could feel the emotion pouring through the pores of the Pavilions crowd, and they were treated to a barnstorming opening four minutes.
Both sides scored freely, with four three-pointers sunk in the first three minutes. But the Patriots had the best of the opening exchanges, shooting 6/9 midway through, compared to 3/11 from the Flyers.
Despite the contrasting percentages, the first quarter was reasonably close, but Plymouth took a 24-17 advantage mainly due to patient offence and solid execution.
Regardless, Bristol chipped away and, having trailed by as many as nine points in the first half, tied the game at 28-28 with more than five minutes played. Thanks to an awkward floater from Tevin Olison.
The Flyers managed to take the lead and despite losing it, were able to get it back at 36-34 with 3.4 seconds left thanks to Kedrian Johnson in a frantic first half, filled with excitement, typical of a derby game.
Second Half
With both teams practically neck-and-neck, it was all about who would make the first significant scoring run of the game.
To the home crowd’s anguish, it was Bristol who exploded in the third by racing away with a 16-0 run, holding the Patriots scoreless for nearly six minutes to turn a slender 45-42 lead to a comfortable 61-42 advantage.
Plymouth, who seemed to live and die by the three in that torrid third quarter without much success were 5/26 from deep going into the final ten minutes as they struggled to find their form from the first.
That form transferred over to the Flyers, who took control and simply couldn’t miss from the field, shooting 50% overall and outscoring their rivals 29-17 in the last ten minutes.
Player of the Game
Tejon Lucas was on form tonight, leading the way for the Flyers as they secured their second win of the season over their south-west rivals.
They said
“A very strong second half and it’s all about the work we’re doing on the defensive end. First quarter, we didn’t defend very well and then the next three quarters, we kept them to 39 points.
“Things then flowed on the offensive end we had [five] guys in double digits, got 17 assists, only 11 turnovers but everything starts on defence. It just shows when we play hard and we’re concentrating for big spells of the game like we have done over both games against Sheffield and tonight in Plymouth, what we can do as a team, and we want to continue to build on that.” — Bristol Flyers coach Andreas Kapoulas.
Team | Player | Points | Rebounds | Assists |
Plymouth City Patriots | TJ Atwood | 30 | 12 | 0 |
Plymouth City Patriots | Taylor Johnson | 10 | 3 | 0 |
Bristol Flyers | Rowell Graham-Bell | 19 | 2 | 1 |
Bristol Flyers | Tejon Lucas | 18 | 9 | 6 |
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