BBL Championship
B. Braun Sheffield Sharks 73 – 88 Cheshire Phoenix (18-21, 37-46, 52-60)
(Sharks: Nelson, 21; Nichols, 17; Banks Jr., 11 – Phoenix: Jack, 18; Austin, 16; Teague, 13)
Cheshire Phoenix began a back-to-back set of games with a decisive win on the road, beating the B. Braun Sheffield Sharks by 15 points, 88-73.
Finding
his groove from three-point range, Buffalo alumni Maceo Jack drained in 18
points off the bench, to lead all Phoenix scorers.
Larry Austin’s 16 points, nine rebounds, and four assists also proved massive for the Phoenix as they look to go undefeated heading into the weekend.
The
opening quarter at Ponds Forge commenced with a back-and-forth exchange of
three-point efforts.
Cheshire’s
Jamell Anderson dealt the first blow, converting a corner three with
Sheffield’s Kipper Nichols quickly responding with his own triple from the top
of the arc.
Long-ranged
shots continued to be the flavour of the game early on, Phoenix’s Will
Neighbour pulling off a handful of exceptional efforts.
The
visitors also made use of lightning-fast guard Larry Austin, who managed to
breeze past three Sharks uniforms, completing a gutsy layup following the spin
move.
Nichols
remained the go-to option for the Sharks, knocking down eight first-quarter
points without a miss.
As well
as efficient shooting to start the game, Nichols was able to set-up athletic
big man Marcus Delpeche in transition to complete an effortless alley-oop
play.
Neighbour’s
quarterback throw in the closing seconds provided guard Jack Hudson with an
easy uncontested layup, putting the visitors ahead by three points.
In
similar style to the first quarter, Neighbour once again found his range,
drilling shots from deep range.
Sharks
ramped up their defensive pressure, Nichols heroically denying what would have
been another three-point shot for Cheshire following a shooting spree.
Delpeche
battled hard as he operated in the low post for the Sharks, finding visits to
the free-throw line off the back of intense post moves.
Phoenix
made use of their bench players, who added 13 points as they began to edge
further away into the lead.
Sharks
guard Channel Banks Jr. showed off his range but three personal fouls limited
his time to keep this going.
Phoenix
rounded out a 25-point second quarter to put the visitors ahead by nine.
Sharks guard Sa’eed Nelson – returning from a stretch of absences – began to convert crucial baskets, becoming the first on his team to draw double-figure points.
Nelson’s
ability to wade through the Phoenix defence found him plenty of opportunities
to score at the charity stripe, where he was near-perfect, hitting ten of 11.
Nelson
tallied ten of Sharks’ 15 third-quarter points.
For
Cheshire, Austin continued to fill the stat sheet, escaping the Sharks
defenders for a handful of easy buckets.
Phoenix
maintained their solid lead heading into the final period.
Cheshire’s
unlimited array of shooters came out firing again – Marcus Evans, Lloyd
Daniels, and Tahjai Teague all converting consecutive three pointers to put
Phoenix ahead.
While
Cheshire carried on taking plenty of perimeter shots, Sharks were able to
counter-attack effectively with Javion Ogunyemi finding himself all alone under
the Cheshire basket to knock down a wide-open layup.
Despite
a flurry of points for the Sharks, Cheshire’s abundance of three-point makes –
11 in total – pushed the Phoenix’s lead to 15 points.
With that, they tallied their seventh victory of the season, with another game at home tomorrow night.
