BBL round-up: Surrey Scorchers shock Newcastle Eagles, while Leicester Riders strengthen grip on top spot

The second-placed Newcastle Eagles were dealt a setback on Easter Sunday as they suffered a shock 87-67 defeat to the ninth-placed Surrey Scorchers in the BBL Championship.

Elsewhere, the BBL Trophy-winning London Lions wrapped up a fine week with a 93-85 victory over the Worcester Wolves, while the Bristol Flyers consigned bottom club Glasgow Rocks to their 19th loss of the campaign.

At the opposite end of the table, the Leicester Riders responded to their defeat at Bristol earlier in the week by establishing a 10-point cushion at the top courtesy of a 90-87 win over the Manchester Giants.

Scorchers spring a surprise

Captain Tayo Ogedengbe led the way for Surrey with a game-high 23 points, while Martelle McLemore, Tony Hicks and Lacey James combined for 44 points in support.

Hicks also managed a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds, the only player in the game to do so as the Eagles had just Justin Gordon and Rahmon Fletcher reaching double-digits for scoring.

Gordon managed 16 points, while Fletcher's total of 20 was supplemented by six assists and four rebounds as four Eagles failed to score off the bench, Darius Defoe and Cortez Edwards managing a combined 12 points. The biggest issue for Newcastle came from behind the arc as they sank just 14 per cent of their three-point attempts compared to Surrey's 47 per cent.

It marked the Scorchers' first win in three games last week, following on from their 109-90 loss to the Lions and 98-90 defeat to the Plymouth Raiders.

For Newcastle the result brought an end to a three-game win streak on the back of Friday's 98-78 win over the Rocks, during which Edwards and Fletcher logged 25 and 22-point performances, respectively.

Lions cap strong week

Meanwhile in Worcester, the Lions continued their pursuit of the top three by seeing off the Wolves in overtime after a back-and-forth affair.

Orlando Parker led the scoring for the Lions with 22, with DeAndre Liggins dropping 18 points and nine assists and Dirk Williams following closely with 17 points alongside three big blocks on the defensive end.

Forward Elijah Burns impressed off the bench for the Wolves as he scored a team-high 24 points as well as grabbing seven rebounds, a total beaten only in the game by Lions center Chris Tawiah's 12 and Worcester teammate Mike Parks Jr's tally of eight. The latter's contributions at the board accompanied 17 points in one of two near-double-doubles for the home team. Maarten Bouwknecht also went close with 19 points and eight assists.

It made it three wins from three on the week for Vince Macaulay's Lions, who sit fourth on 28 points, two points behind second and third with games in hand.

Williams erupted for 35 points as the London outfit beat the Scorchers 109-90 on Wednesday, before his 25-point performance spearheaded a 93-81 victory against the Sheffield Sharks on Friday.

Worcester had also been in action during the week, 19-point displays from both Bouwknecht and Lamarr Kimble leading them to a 77-72 win over the Flyers.

Flyers win again

In Glasgow, the Flyers recorded a comfortable 87-79 victory over the Rocks to pick up their fourth win in their last six games.

Josh Wilcher and Denzel Edozie dropped a combined total of 33 points off the bench, while Raphell Thomas-Edwards and Josh Rogers scored five and two, respectively, to make it 40 points coming from outside the starting five. Justin Baker also managed 14 points in 20 minutes with an 83 per cent field goal percentage.

Player/Coach Gareth Murray scored a team-high 16 points, but the most impressive performance arguably came courtesy of Boban Jacdonmi, who scored 14 points and grabbed 16 rebounds as the Rocks tried to come-back in the third quarter, scoring 31 points in ten minutes.

Riders strengthen grip on top spot

The Riders recovered from their surprise loss to the Flyers earlier in the week to hold off the Giants and consolidate their position at the top of the BBL Championship.

That was despite an outstanding individual effort from the Giants' Justin Satchell, who recorded 36 points and nine rebounds.

William Lee starred for Leicester with a team-high 19 points while shooting 80 percent from the field, as well as providing nine rebounds. Teammate Darien Nelson-Henry logged a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds, proving vital as the Riders held off a late comeback.

Alex Ouandie was at the forefront of the late charge, knocking down two clutch threes amid a final quarter flurry. But even that wasn't enough to threaten Satchell's figures as he shot 81 percent and missed just one free throw. Jordan Whelan also scored 18 points while David Ulph had 15 rebounds.

The Riders sit top on 40 points, 10 ahead of the second-placed Plymouth Raiders having played one game more.

Plymouth had kept the pressure on earlier in the week with a 98-90 win over the Scorchers behind 20 points from Ricky McGill, who followed that up with a tied-game-high 23 points in Saturday's 88-83 win over the Cheshire Phoenix.