Basketball: Scorchers Fail To Leave Their Mark in Leeds

Published on: 16 Nov, 2015
Updated on: 16 Nov, 2015

Scorcher Christian Behrens standing up to some Leeds force. (Photo: Steve Porter)

Surrey Scorchers slipped to their fourth defeat of the season after a tightly fought contest against Leeds Force on Friday evening (November 13).

In a game that ebbed and flowed across all four quarters, the result really could have gone either way.

Scorchers’ Lekan Popoola had some early success with the 3 ball with Christian Behrens also making a good start at the offensive end. At the break, Creon’s men had managed to reverse the four point deficit to to a four point lead, their biggest margin of the game.

With shooting success low on both sides, it was game won on rebounds, turnovers and steals.

Scorchers took a three point lead into the final stanza, yet it was the home side that were able to make the key moments and turnovers count to run away 73-63 victors.

Elvisi Dusha joined Behrens as Scorchers top scorer on the night with 13 points, with Tayo and DJ Felder checking in with 11 points each.

Commenting after the game, Scorchers Coach Creon Raftopoulos said: “There needs to be a big focus defensively. Tayo lead from the front in defence as skipper, but anytime you have 20 turnovers in a game it’s going to be difficult.

“Obviously we’ve been struggling with injuries and Henry has been a big loss. He’s still recovering and now we have two weeks to get everyone fit and ready to go again at home to London Lions in front of our own fans.

“We’ve been working hard on a replacement for Dez Lee in the Point Guard position. It’s taking longer than we had hoped, but hopefully we’ll have a new addition in time for Lions’ visit.”

The defeat leaves Scorchers 3-4 and sitting seventh in the BBL Championship with a form of WLWLL.

British Basketball League Championship
Leeds Force 73 (19, 34, 49) (Marsden 21, Waller 16, Bullard 15)
Surrey Scorchers 63 (15, 38, 52) (Dusha 13, Behrens 13, Felder 11)

Scorchers next opportunity to get back to winning ways is at home to London Lions in the re-arranged fixture on Saturday 28 November, 7.00pm at Surrey Sports Park. Match tickets and new Half Season tickets are available at surreyscorchers.co.uk.