Bristol Flyers head coach Andreas Kapoulas tipped his hat to Marcus Delpeche as he helped Sheffield Sharks edge a tight contest with his former team and twin brother Malcolm.
The Delpeches originally signed for Bristol together back in 2018. Marcus stayed at SGS College Arena for three years before switching to the Sharks, while Malcolm played for German side WWU Baskets Munster, returning last year for his second spell in Stoke Gifford.
The sporting sibling rivalry has been an intriguing subplot when the Flyers and Sharks have matched up in the British Basketball League (BBL) over the last two seasons.
So it proved again in a typically close encounter on Saturday between two evenly matched sides. But it was the Sharks - who have the best defensive rating in the league - who prevailed 76-72, denying the Flyers the chance to return to the top of the BBL table.
Despite a silky three-pointer to start the game from VJ King - who continued his good form on offence with a 21-point performance, going 7 of 16 from the field and 3 of 6 from beyond the arc - the Flyers had a tough time shooting the ball in the opening quarter.
After almost hitting three figures in the impressive 95-76 blowout victory over Manchester Giants in the BBL Cup the weekend before, the Flyers found it tougher work to carve out good looks from two-point range against a well-drilled Sharks defence. Sheffield clogged up the lanes preventing opportunities to drive to the hoop, forcing Bristol to live and die by their perimeter shooting.
While Bristol are a team that typically puts up a lot of threes, it was partly reflective of Sheffield’s scrappy defence that they ended up taking 25 more shots from deep than the visitors, though they made a decent percentage, 10 of 30 (33 per cent).
A subdued crowd watched on as the Flyers struggled to reach double digits in the first period, with their first two-point play, a two-handed jam from Malcolm Delpeche, coming in a last minute 5-2 run to keep the deficit at seven points.
In a see-saw contest the Flyers flipped the switch in the second, with impressive rookie Jelani Watson-Gayle and sharp shooter Brandon Mahan draining threes as the team mounted a 10-2 run to tie the game.
Of big concern though to the rejuvenated Flyers faithful was when team captain and point guard Michael Miller suddenly slipped and injured his ankle. The court general pounded the court in pain as he writhed around, before getting to his feet gingerly and limping to the sidelines. He would not return to the game.
Coach Kapoulas told BristolLive after the game he was hopeful the fresh injury blow wouldn’t mean a long-term spell out of the rotation for Miller, but it would need to be properly assessed this week once the swelling had gone down. Miller missed time earlier this year after entering the club’s concussion protocol after a blow to the head against Cheshire Phoenix.
The Flyers battled bravely on without their leader, and eventually took the lead when guard Corey Samuels made a tough contested shot in the paint during a six-point run.
The Delpeche twins produced a brilliant battle of the boards as both crashed the glass for rebounds. But with Malcolm getting in foul trouble early he had to be benched, setting the stage for Marcus to take over.
The former Flyer, who finished with a season high 17 points, scored his team’s final six points from the field before the break, including a spectacular 'alley-oop', which will surely have a place on a highlights package of BBL plays of the season.
Tied at 36-36 going into the break the Flyers started brightly, taking a four-point lead thanks to Thomas Bell III - or TB3 as he is called by some fans - only for their offence to dry up once again. They only mustered 10 points during the whole frame.
The Sharks went on a nine-point run as the Flyers couldn’t get their shots to fall. Bristol meanwhile picked up the first four foul calls of the quarter in an increasingly chippy contest, which eventually saw Coach Kapoulas receive a technical for his remonstrations with the referees.
Stuck eight points going into the final quarter, the Flyers showed grit to fight their way back and almost snatch victory from the jaws of the Sharks.
Both sides traded three-pointers in a pulsating start, first Watson-Gayle for the Flyers, before an immediate response from the Sharks’ Kipper Nichols.
Marcus Delpeche extended the lead to double digits, before VJ King made a step back three. Channel Banks Jr answered by banking a fortuitous three off the glass, before Watson-Gayle hit back again with another triple of his own.
The Flyers went on a 12-2 run, culminating in an ‘and one’ three-point play from TB3, giving Bristol a five-point lead with around two minutes and half minutes left on the game clock.
However, the Flyers’ offensive execution down the stretch let them down. After the Sharks ate away their lead to stick their noses in front by single point, an inbound pass from Mahan flew over its intended target of TB3 and out of bounds, turning over possession at a key moment.
Javion Ogunyemi made two vital free throws, extending the lead to five with 15 seconds left. The Flyers went down fighting with Tevin Olison draining a clutch three. But time was ultimately against Bristol, as after fouling Banks the Sheffield guard hit both shots from the line to ice the game.
After the game an upbeat Coach K told BristolLive he had praised his players in the locker room for the character they had shown, and reflected that the game “could have gone either way”.
Kapoulas was also complimentary of his former charge Marcus Delpeche, who he said had a “big game” on his return to Bristol.
“[Marcus] caused us a lot of trouble in the lane. Malcolm got into foul trouble early, that kind of slowed him down, but we could have done a bit of a better job of finding him in the second half.
“As a coach I have got to do a better job in terms of how we find looks for him. But as a team overall we need to recognise we need to give him the ball. Marcus played well, but Malcolm has been playing really well in previous matches against Marcus.
“They’re both really good players and at the end of the day, whilst it is not great losing a game, it’s great to see a former player playing well. So hats off to him, and we’ll see what happens the next time we match up.”
