‘We have to take better care of the ball in dying minutes’
PATERNOSTRO PLEA AS RIDERS LOOK TO BOUNCE BACK FROM BBL CUP SEMI-FINAL LOSS
LEICESTER Riders go on the road to the Plymouth Raiders in the BBL Championship tonight (7.30pm) for the second time in just over a week – looking to bounce back from their heart-breaking loss to Newcastle Eagles in the BBL Cup semi-final on Tuesday night.
Riders racked up their 30th win in a row over the Raiders just over a week ago, and that league-leading record will again be on the line against a Plymouth side who were among the favourites to press for a first league title after they overhauled their squad in the summer.
Plymouth were bought by the owner of Bahçesehir Basketbol, who play in the Turkish Basketball Superleague, early last year and they have had a cash injection to get them playing for honours in the BBL.
Things have not gone completely to plan under head coach Paul James, a former Riders player in the 1980s, due in no small measure to a long-term injury to GB guard Andrew Lawrence.
Their record in the Championship so far is a disappointing three wins and five losses, but they have twice pushed mighty London Lions very close, and are destined to finish nearer the top of the table.
Much of the scoring load falls on Lawrence’s GB team-mate, veteran Ashley Hamilton, who has responded by leading the team in scoring with nearly 20 points per game, while pulling down nearly seven rebounds and dishing out just under two assists per game.
But the biggest impact in the last match against the Riders came from the Raiders’ new signing, American Mike Morsell.
The former Eagle played his college ball with Towson University where he averaged 11.7 points and 3.4 rebounds a game.
For Eagles last season, 6ft 5in guard/wing Morsell played 11 games and averaged 15 points per game, and made an immediate impression in his first game against Leicester last week by top scoring with 26 points.
Raiders hope their London-born forward Prince Ibeh, who missed the last game because he was isolating, will return for tonight’s match.
Riders head coach Rob Paternostro is just pleased to get his team back out on court quickly.
“We are all disappointed after Tuesday. We know we did not play as good as we can at either end of the floor,” he said.
“I thought defensively to hold them to their final number was good, but we had some breakdowns at crucial points.
“Offensively we really struggled.
We shot 38 per cent from the field, which is a problem.
“We did not finish as well as we should around the basket and then there was the turnovers.
“We have been talking about them for weeks on end.
“The turnovers we are giving up are leading directly to scores and I thought that was the difference in the game.
“It is simple. We have to take better care of the ball.
“When you look at the losses we have had, all of them come down to last two minutes of the game.
“We have to be better at that stage of the game.
“Plymouth have loaded up. They are a different team than they were even a month ago. They have a lot of pieces and a lot of talent, but it is good we are playing again so quickly.
“The team had the right attitude after the loss, and they are ready to focus on improvement.
“It was a really tough game down there last week, and we don’t expect anything different this time.
“We are generally in good form, and our road form has been excellent, so hopefully we can keep that going.”
Teams:
Leicester Riders: Corey Johnson, Jamell Anderson, Geno Crandall, Zach Jackson, Darien Nelson-Henry, William Lee, Conner Washington, Ali Fraser, Aaron Falzon, Greg Wild, Kyle Jimenez, Justin Hedley.
Plymouth Raiders: Ashley Hamilton, Chris Porter-Bunton, Elvisi Dusha, Will Neighbour, Prince Ibeh, Rickey McGill, Leon Neziri, Elliott Sentence, Denzel Ubiaro, Ryan Beisty, Liam Langridge-Barker, Michael Ochereobia, Mike Morsell.