Bristol Flyers clinched their 20th league win of the season, claiming an 82-87 victory over Cheshire Phoenix despite the hosts threatening to hand Flyers a second consecutive loss.
“A very gutsy performance,” was how Bristol Flyers head coach Andreas Kapoulas described his side’s effort. “Cheshire is a tough place to come and play, and we built an early lead, which they cut down going into half-time.
“We had a strong third quarter defensively, we held them to 11 points and were able to build the lead again. They got in a bit of foul trouble and went smaller, and that caused us a lot of problems.”
Cheshire took a lead late in the fourth, but Bristol’s efficiency from the foul line allowed them to seal the game in the closing stages. Mike Miller led the Flyers with a well-rounded 20-point, six-rebound, eight-assist performance, as four other Flyers reached double-digits in points - including Brandon Mahan who went a perfect five-of-five from three-point range.
“We’re at a point in the season where it’s important to keep winning instead of combing losses," Miller said. "We followed the game plan. Just like when they took the lead, we know we’re plenty capable to take the lead right back.”
Malcolm Delpeche opened proceedings with a dunk off the feed from Miller, who added his own lay-up to give the Flyers and early four-nothing lead. Phoenix’s Jamell Anderson got the hosts off the mark with a triple before Miller and Delpeche combined again for the crowd-silencing alley-oop jam.
The sides were evenly matched as the lead alternated between the teams, before Flyers went on a stretch of scoring which included four quick threes from Mahan, pushing them out to an 11-point lead. It was an efficient scoring quarter for the visitors, but Amorie Archibald’s three cut into the deficit; Flyers led 17-26 after the first.
With Will Neighbour injured, the onus was on Cheshire’s bigs to step up. David Ulph caused problems for Flyers in the second quarter, battling inside and getting consecutive lay-ins under the basket following another two from Archibald. Miller’s seven second-quarter-points did well to cancel out Ulph’s scoring, before the home side put together a run.
Good play from the Phoenix backcourt cut the deficit to two points, going on an eight-point run before VJ King got the finish off the glass to drop. Archibald scored the last four points of the period, and Bristol had a slender 41-43 lead going into the half.
Larry Austin tied the scores coming out of the break and whenever Flyers took the lead, Cheshire pegged them back with scores of their own. Mahan hit his fifth three which had the travelling fans on their feet; Anderson retaliated with one of his own which whipped up the home support.
Phoenix suffered another injury blow as Ulph was forced off late in the third, leaving Tahjai Teague as the only natural big in the Phoenix rotation. They were forced to play small-ball for the remainder of the quarter, as Anderson filled in at the five-spot against Delpeche. Flyers’ advantage was widened to 52-59 going into the final period thanks to Jelani Watson-Gayle’s deep-ball.
Bristol managed to extend their lead to 12, opening the fourth with a three-ball from King before Leslee Smith’s give-and-go with Watson-Gayle left him open for the powerful throw down. Former Flyer Marcus Evans drained his own triple, the first of three consecutive for the Phoenix. Archibald’s pair from the charity stripe made it a three point game with over six minutes on the clock.
The Nix had caught fire from downtown, another set of consecutive triples gave them their first lead since the first quarter; Archibald once again leading the charge. Bristol re-established their lead through lay-ups from Miller and Thomas Bell. Cheshire were once gain able to bring the game back within a point, but the visitor’s killer instinct from the line kept the hosts at bay.
Bristol made 22 out of their 26 free-throw attempts. Evans made another three to end the game, but it was merely a consolation as the result was determined by King with four late foul-shots.
Flyers’ next game sees them travel back to the North-West to face Manchester Giants on Wednesday. Following that game they will return home to face Plymouth City Patriots on Friday night.
“We have an opportunity to get a bit of payback,” coach Kapoulas added. “It’s going to be difficult in Manchester, we saw it when they played London - they were up by 19 points early in the game. They are not an easy matchup. We have three games in six days and that was only game one.”
