Blazers pull off a shock by beating BBL Scorchers
ON a weekend of FA Cup upsets in the football, Derby Trailblazers pulled off a shock of their own when they knocked Surrey Scorchers out of the BBL Trophy.
It was the first time the Blazers have beaten a BBL team and they did it in style, winning 98-93 on Surrey’s home court. The full-time professional side only managed to make the score respectable when Derby’s injury-ravaged squad began to tire in the final quarter.
Derby went into the game without Ryan Bruggeman (ankle), Leighton Elliott-Sewell (back) and Charlie Brown (knee), leaving them with essentially a seven-man rotation.
Malcolm Smith was again in sensational form for the Blazers, with 36 points and 12 rebounds.
Blake Bowman was also impressive, finishing with 25 points, two rebounds and three assists, while Kayne King revelled in a rare start, netting nine points, eight rebounds, 14 assists and two steals.
“Kayne was sensational,” said head coach Matt Shaw. “That’s one of the best performances he’s ever put in as a Trailblazer, so when you do that in one of the biggest games against a BBL team says a lot about his character.
“He’s not had many minutes this season, so to play like he did, I’m just delighted for him.
“We probably played better than we did in the L Lynch Trophy final. I think the fact we had so many injuries just showed the strength and depth we now have.”
Derby led all the way from when a pair of Smith free throws put them 11-9 up in the first quarter.
A triple for Bowman closed out the first with them leading 32-27 and a 14-7 run, capped by threepointers from Bowman and Jonas Dieterich, opened a 60-44 halftime advantage.
Smith took over at the start of the third, netting all of Derby’s points in an 8-1 burst which saw their lead peak at 68-45. Crucially, Smith also drew the fourth and fifth fouls from 7’1” centre Legend Robertin early in the third, putting him out of the contest.
Three-pointers from Caylin Raftopoulos and Lemar Henrik helped Surrey claw it back to 78-62 by the end of the third. As Derby started to tire, Henrik hit three back-to-back threes to reduce the gap to nine points inside the last five minutes.
Smith restored calm with five of the points in a 7-4 run and Surrey could get no closer than 94-90 in the closing stages.
“Malcolm proved once again that he’s extremely hard to stop, even when playing against higher level opposition,” added Shaw. “A lot of people have said he’s probably capable of playing in the BBL and we saw that’s clearly the case.”
Derby’s reward is a home match against Bristol Flyers, who produced a giant-killing of their own by knocking out Leicester Riders 71-68. The quarter-final ties are provisionally scheduled for the weekend of February 4-6.