• Fri. Mar 29th, 2024

North East Connected

Hopping Across The North East From Hub To Hub

British_Basketball_League_(emblem)The top three teams in the BBL Championship are all in action as part of a five-game schedule tonight, while the fourth Quarter-Final in the BBL Cup takes place on Sunday.

Cheshire Phoenix will be aiming to finally end their wait for a first win at their new Cheshire Oaks Arena home when they host Bristol Flyers for the right to take on Esh Group Eagles Newcastle in the Semi-Finals.

After a 3-1 start in the league, Phoenix have slipped to a run of five straight defeats and prior to their Cup encounter with the Flyers, they travel to face third-placed Worcester Wolves this evening.

Jordan Williams has made a strong start to the season as the league’s leading points scorer and he believes that better fortunes are just around the corner for his side.

“We’ve had a tough stretch recently and have had a couple of injuries and changes to deal with, but I think we are just learning from our mistakes so later on we will be better,” he insisted.

“We’ve been playing our hardest, but just haven’t picked up our first home win – it’s coming but we are focused on trying to make some noise in the Cup.

“I think I’ve settled in pretty good to league and I’m just doing what I can to help the team succeed.”

24 hours after hosting Cheshire, Paul James’ Worcester side are back in action on the road at Plymouth University Raiders – who have added New Zealand international Duane Bailey and BBL regular Adrien Sturt to their squad following a first win of the season last Sunday.

Leeds Force broke new ground in the BBL Championship last weekend as they entered the top four with back-to-back victories, and Matt Newby’s side will be hoping to keep the momentum building when they entertain Surrey Scorchers.

Meanwhile, Manchester Giants pulled off a win on the road at London Lions a few weeks back and return to the capital looking to repeat the feat this evening before hosting the league leaders, Newcastle, on Sunday.

And, Callum Jones is aware of the tough challenge that the Giants face as they look to try to gain some consistency in the league.

“Both opponents will be tough for different reasons,” he declared.

“A more up-tempo style would favour us in one game and a slower pace and more physical game in the other so we need to be ready for both.

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“We need to believe in the process of working hard for each other, every possession of every game, and trusting the coach’s system to develop confidence further to win games.

“So far, we have been a bit up and down, which many people will put down to having a lot of new guys with limited or no BBL experience, but it is something we think we can be more consistent with.”

Finally, Glasgow Rocks have a home double-header this weekend as they welcome Leicester Riders and London Lions to the Emirates Arena. The Riders are the visitors tonight looking to extend their 6-0 start having already beaten the Rocks 64-60 when the two teams met in Loughborough last month.

The Lions lost all four meetings with Sterling Davis’ side last season, and have to go back to 2009 for their last win in Scotland.

By admin