Bristol Flyers claimed victories over Sheffield Sharks and Newcastle Eagles to remain in contention towards the top of the British Basketball League table.
Flyers earned hard-fought 73-91 victory in the Steel City on Friday, coming back from behind at half-time with a clutch performance from captain, Mike Miller in front of the Sky Sports cameras. In their home return on Sunday it was British rookie, Jelani Watson-Gayle who showed out with an incredible 30-point performance in front of the GB head coach, Newcastle’s Marc Steutel.
Flyers head coach, Andreas Kapoulas highlighted his side’s strong start to the season, saying: “We’ve won five of our last six in league play, and we’re 15-6 in the league - one of the best starts we’ve ever had. We’ve just got to rest our bodies coming off a good weekend, and we want to keep on rolling.”
Thomas Bell made a return to the starting five in Sheffield, having made bench appearances in the previous two games. He opened with seven of Bristol’s first nine points, but the Sharks stayed close thanks to scoring from former Flyer, Marcus Delpeche. Sharks put up an 11-nothing scoring run to stretch to a big early lead.
Flyers didn’t stay down for long as they retaliated with a run of their own to end the quarter two points shy of their hosts going into the first break. Momentum in the second quarter was in the Sharks favour.
Jordan Ratinho was able to show his range and helped push Sheffield ahead, whilst the visitors struggled to ripple the net. The Sheffield defence has been lauded all season despite a poor run of recent results, but they were not able to keep VJ King and Brandon Mahan quiet. They cut the lead to five going into half-time - Sharks led 45-40.
The second half saw the lid come off the basket as Bristol built upon the late scoring surge they saw at the end of the second quarter. They notched the opening seven points of the half, and their poor three-point shooting worries had all but gone. King and Watson-Gayle were the scoring sparks from behind the arc, and with 10 minutes remaining Flyers had a six-point lead.
The sides traded baskets before Tevin Olison took the game by the scruff and scored seven unanswered points to push Flyers’ advantage into double-digits. Miller’s efficiency from inside the arc was a thorn in Sheffield’s side throughout the second half, but King and Leslee Smith sealed the 18-point win with back-to-back lay-ins.
Following the game, Miller highlighted the difference-maker in Sheffield, saying: “We came out keying in on getting stops, making the extra pass, and playing simple basketball.
“The game is never over, it’s a game of runs and that’s what we’re starting to understand. Every game we play can turn around at any time. Team basketball is great, especially when guys are flowing and having fun - there’s no limit to what we can do.”
Sunday’s game saw second-top face second-bottom in league play, and was a North Texas Mean Green reunion for Flyers Miller and Bell, reuniting with Newcastle’s star-guard, Javion Hamlet.
The first quarter was filled with highlight reel plays. Newcastle returner, Justin Gordon threw down an early jam from the baseline before King slammed home a tomahawk in transition.
Bell was able to shake of his man before punching through a vicious dunk which had the home crowd on their feet. The scoring was close throughout the quarter, but Ben Mockford’s late three gave Newcastle a two-point lead at the end of the first - unable to complete the four-point play having been fouled.
Watson-Gayle took over the second quarter with a memorable heat check from behind the arc. He had 14 of Bristol’s 24 points in the second quarter and went four-of-five in the period from downtown. This gave Flyers a 15-point lead which Newcastle struggled to reduce as King continued the scoring trend. Bristol led by 11 at half-time.
The home scoring was infectious. Bell and Mahan added triples in the third quarter; Malcolm Delpeche showed his hops too, cutting down main street for the two-handed flush. Hamlet became more of a problem and helped the visitors come back within single digits with an array of outrageous finishes from the lane. Watson-Gayle drained yet another three and closed the quarter from the line putting Flyers up 64-56.
Many of the fourth quarter points came from the line, but everything Watson-Gayle touched turned into a basket. He was able to get consecutive lay-ups to keep the score going, but Newcastle’s Gordon shouldered a lot of the scoring load and piled on the points. Watson-Gayle reached his 30-piece from the charity stripe, proving to be the final nail in the coffin and giving Bristol a 10-point win.
“I just wanted to play with confidence,” expressed Watson-Gayle. “I haven’t really been shooting the ball well recently, so I was just trying to take my shots and take my time, and my teammates did a good job of finding me.
“We’re trying to keep getting better and keep improving. Sometimes we’ve taken two steps forward and then a step back, so we’re just trying to keep building and getting better as a team.”
Flyers will return to the road for a trip to Caledonia on Friday night to face the Gladiators. Coach Kapoulas spoke on the reputed home form of the Scottish side, stating: “Caledonia is a tough place, the only team that has gone there and won is London, so we know it’s going to be a tough game especially as they’ve beaten us at our place this season as well.”
