Rivals are routed as Riders remain unbeaten in league
DOMINANT DISPLAY SEES EAGLES OUTSCORED IN EVERY QUARTER
LEICESTER Riders comprehensively outplayed arch-rivals Newcastle Eagles for the second time this season in front of the Sky TV cameras, by a score of 101-72 at the Morningside Arena on Friday night, to stay undefeated in the BBL Championship.
Riders led for all but just over one minute of the game and won each quarter.
Meanwhile, Newcastle slid to their fourth defeat and second in a row.
Riders remain the only unbeaten team in defence of their BBL Championship title.
BBL MVP Geno Crandall scored 20 of his game-high 22 points in the first half, while Marc Loving added 14 points, all in the second half, with eight rebounds and seven assists.
Riders went on an early 11-2 run, started by a Crandall three-pointer and capped by his big dunk in transition. Another triple gave Riders a double-digit lead at 23-13.
At that stage, Mo Walker was establishing himself in the paint and scoring with ease, while drawing fouls from the Eagles big man Duke
Shelton, who was forced to the bench with a couple of early fouls.
Consecutive three-pointers by Patrick Whelan and Crandall, and good work inside by Jubril Adekoya and Darien Nelson-Henry, had Riders on top at the end of the first quarter, 27-15.
That advantage was extended in the second quarter as Crandall hit a trio of three pointers in little over a minute, as part of an 11-0 burst that made the score 47-25 in favour of Riders.
A Wesley Person three-pointer stopped the bleeding and that was followed by eight consecutive points by Eagles point guard Rahmon Fletcher, including a pair of threepointers, to cut into the Riders lead, with Newcastle trailing 48-36.
But Crandall immediately responded with a jump shot, Walker again went inside and a breakaway basket by Zach Jackson had Riders back comfortably in charge, leading 54-38 at half-time.
There was sloppy play by both teams at the start of the second half and Newcastle cut into the Riders lead with a pair of baskets, only for Marc Loving to halt any thought of a revival by the Eagles as he scored 12 points in three minutes to make the score 68-46, in what became a 20-4 run overall for Leicester.
At the end of the third quarter Riders led 80-53 and the Eagles needed an immediate response.
But, instead, Riders continued with their exceptional passing game which led to a three-pointer by Whelan and an easy lay-up by Adekoya for an 89-59 lead with just under six minutes left in the game.
Newcastle were forced to a timeout and responded with a 9-2 run but were stopped in their tracks by a Kimbal Mackenzie three-pointer to kill any hopes of a late comeback.
Crandall points haul included five of nine three-pointers and he also contributed four rebounds and four assists.
There was another solid game from Zach Jackson with 10 points, eight rebounds and four assists.
But Riders were team-first and had six players in double-figure points.
Riders managed 13 three-pointers to just eight for the Eagles, and dominated the boards, outrebounding the Eagles 46-31, including 19 offensive rebounds.
That allowed Riders to score 17 second chance points versus 10 for Newcastle and they outscored the Eagles 11-2 on fast break points.
Riders bench also outscored Newcastle’s by 29 points to 15, and they forced 17 turnovers on the Eagles in the comprehensive win.
Riders’ fixture against Surrey Scorchers yesterday was postponed.