Riders set for two games in three days with the Flyers
PLAY-OFF CONTENDERS WILL POSE TOUGH CHALLENGE, WARNS COACH
LEICESTER Riders take on Bristol Flyers at the SGS Arena tonight (7.30pm) in the BBL Championship – the first of two matches between the clubs in three days.
The teams will be back in action on Tuesday night at the Morningside Arena.
Riders won a tight match 83-75 when the two sides met just before Christmas in Leicester.
Bristol have had a see-saw season as they have steadily added to their personnel.
They remain well in the hunt for a play-off spot, just ahead of the Manchester Giants in eighth place, but need a good run of form to be certain in a very competitive BBL.
The Flyers are coming off a solid 91-86 home win over Glasgow Rocks.
Bristol now have in their backcourt the starting guards for Great Britain, Ben Mockford and Teddy Okereafor.
Those two have been backed up by one of the top offensive point guards in the BBL, Josh Wilcher, who joined after multiple seasons in Plymouth.
Head coach Andreas Kapoulas has kept a core of the team from last season in captain forward Daniel
Edozie, British forward Raphell Thomas-Edwards and forward Marcus Delpeche.
American Eric Lockett has been a mainstay of the Flyers’ offense, averaging 14 points and seven rebounds per game, while playing 30 minutes per game.
In January, the Flyers signed another American forward, Justin Baker, for the rest of the season to add experience to the team.
Baker joins following seven successful years of playing professionally, with spells in Denmark, Israel, Finland, Sweden, Greece, Cyprus, Romania and Qatar.
Baker’s most successful season came in Australia, where he helped Townsville Heat lift the 2017 QBL State Championship title, playing alongside Wilcher.
He has had a solid start for Bristol, averaging over 11 points and four rebounds per game. Riders are coming off a stunning comefrom-behind victory against Cheshire Phoenix on Wednesday.
They held the Phoenix to just three points in the final quarter, turning around a seven-point deficit at the end of the third quarter, and won by 12 points.
They did it without star guard Geno Crandall, out with a sprained wrist.
Riders head coach Rob Paternostro, right, recognises the danger the Flyers pose.
“It was a great victory for us in midweek without Geno, who is so important to us,” he said.
“The guys were immense defensively all game against a powerful Phoenix team, especially late on. “Geno is still being evaluated but, in the meantime, we need to find ways to win without him. “Mustapha Heron really stepped up for us against Cheshire and got his shooting game going and Conner Washington was very solid. “Bristol are a very tough team with a high-class back court who have been in every game. “They have a lot of guys who crash the glass and lead the league in offensive rebounds, so that needs to be a focus area for us. “They also have two new guys, since we played them three months ago, so we need to make more adjustments.
“Bristol have one of the longest benches in the BBL, so we will have our work cut out.”
Bristol Flyers: Ben Mockford, Josh Wilcher, Daniel Edozie, Terry Okereafor, Eric Lockett, Justin Baker, Marcus Delpeche, Panos Mayindombe, Thomas Browne, Nasim Ladjimi, Josh Rogers, T Browne, Liam Davis, Raphell Thomas-Edwards.
Leicester Riders: Corey Johnson, Jamell Anderson, Geno Crandall, Mustapha Heron, Darien NelsonHenry, William Lee, Conner Washington, Ali Fraser, Aaron Falzon, Greg Wild, Kyle Jimenez, Justin Hedley, Mo Walker.