Fatigue catches up with Sharks as Raiders break the streak

Friday 5th April 2019

BBL Championship

DBL Sharks Sheffield 56 Plymouth Raiders 85

The effects of three games in eight days told on the DBL Sharks Sheffield as they were convincingly defeated by Plymouth Raiders. Results elsewhere meant the Sharks hold on to their fourth position in the BBL table but they must now look to secure further victories in their final four games to secure a playoff berth.

Starting fives

Sharks: McKnight, Marsden, Alexander, Williams, Martin

Raiders: Hassan, Wilcher, Nicholas, Jarvelainen, Payne

Key Moments

A tied first quarter was as good as it got for the Sharks. Chris Alexander opened with a three point score and extended that lead to 8-2 on another corner trey. League MVP candidate Donte Nicholas went to work for the Raiders with some neat work around the hoop to garner fourteen personal points and see Plymouth out to a 17-19 lead. A skilled fadeaway from Mackey McKnight on the buzzer levelled the scores at nineteen each come the end of the quarter.

McKnight’s triple kept things close at 24-25 early in the second quarter before the game unravelled with a 0-7 run from Plymouth. Chris Alexander reduced the deficit at 29-32 on an outrageous inbounded ‘and one’ play but six points from Jarvelainen and a further five from the impressive Nicholas saw the visitors take a 33-46 lead into the locker room.

A 10-16 third period compounded the Sharks misery. Josh Wilcher continued an impressive shooting night for the Devonians, taking the game out to 41-62 and the Raiders even had the luxury of sitting Rashad Hassan having picked up his fourth foul.

A nineteen point difference looked a mountain for the Sharks to climb and so it proved in the final quarter. Successive treys from Wilcher took the score out to 46-70 and a further distance shot from Jarvelainen gave Plymouth a thirty point lead at 50-80. The Sharks emptied the bench with 2.21 to go and it was a Nate Montgomery bucket that concluded proceedings with a Raiders victory at 56-85.

MVP

There were double figure scores from Chris Alexander (13) and Dirk Williams (11) but again it was the all-round game of Mackey McKnight that caught the eye. He produced 12 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 steals to take the award but clearly the Sharks were never going to be victorious having only scored 56 points in total.

Quotes

Atiba Lyons conceded his side were feeling the effects of three games inside eight days and vowed to put them on a better footing for the remaining four regular season fixtures.

Next home game

Image

Amy Smith