The second round of the British Basketball League Trophy has arrived and it saw the Manchester Giants travelling to the Morningside Arena to face off against the Leicester Riders. 

Both teams are heading into this game in similar circumstances. Manchester lost out to an 8 man Newcastle whilst Leicester flew by the Bristol Flyers to put them second in the group, equal on wins with London. Leicester did however lose out to the top team in the group recently with an 89-74 win in favour of London. 

The last time these two teams faced off saw the Leicester Riders riding out as victors with a scoreline of 86-73. Manchester would be looking for redemption as well as their first win in the British Basketball League Trophy. 

Manchester’s defensive woes are seemingly a persistent down-fall their game and this evening was no different, Leicester managed to put 31 points on Manchester in the 1st quarter with Kimbal McKenzie and Miryne Thomas combining for 16 of those. Manchester managed to hang on early doors through a few big 3 point plays from William Lee, coupled with the interior play from guards Mason Bourcier and Nicholas Lewis which saw Manchester notch 24 against their opponents. 

Leicester shifted into another gear and began raining shots on Manchester. A flurry from Thomas and Lall from the outside coupled with the physicality and interior play from Leicester new man Duke Shelton and Teddy Allen allowed the Riders to storm off to a 15 point lead. Manchester were also caught in team foul trouble early on with 7 fouls in that 2nd quarter alone and 11 fouls overall in the first half. 

Second Half: 

A strong start to the 3rd quarter from Manchester as they put together a 7-0 scoring run in the opening 2 minutes of play. It was a quarter full of hustle and effort from Manchester, Mason Bourcier threw it down and converted from the charity stripe meanwhile Nicholas Lewis followed suit with the latter whilst getting in the faces of the Leicester defence with great slashing abilities to convert tough looks. Nick Stampley hit a much needed 3 ball to cut the lead to 6 and give the Giants a light at the end of the tunnel. The power struggle continued throughout the quarter with Leicetser’s Teddy Allen and Mo Walker attempting to pull away from Manchester. Nick Stampley and Legend Robertin pulled the lead back to single digits before the quarter was out as Manchester held Leicester to just 16 points.

The 4th quarter tipped off with Leicester once again looking to create some breathing room from the Giants with an early 3 from TJ Lall. This was met with a swift reply from Jalen Harris who produced a three of his own. Blake Bowman and Legend Robertin traded baskets before Nicholas Lewis began to once again chip away at the Leicester lead. Jalen Harris, Evan Walshe and William Lee pulled to lead to as close as 4 points. Leicester, feeling the presence of Manchester, knew they needed to rally as did so through feeding Teddy Allen down low and then kicking it out to either TJ Lall or Miryne Thomas on the perimeter for uncontested three’s. This offensive style made it too much for Manchester whos 4 point deficit ended in a 16 point loss. 

Stats: 

Evan Walshe: 13 Points, 4 Rebounds, 3 Steals. 

Nicholas Lewis: 17 Points, 8 Assists, 50%FG. 

William Lee: 16 Points, 8 Rebounds, 3 Assists, 3 Blocks. 

Nick Stampley: 10 Points, 9 Rebounds, 3 Steals. 

Legend Robertin: 14 Points, 6 Rebounds, 66%FG, 100%FT. 

The Manchester Giants are at home for the first time in the British Basketball League Trophy as they host the London Lions on January 12th at 7:45pm. 

The full game from this evening's will be available to view below: