A dominant second quarter from the Leicester Riders was the difference as they defeated the Surrey Scorchers 104-84 on Saturday evening.
After a close opening, the visitors outscored the hosts 32-15 in the second period to blow the game open. Teddy Allen lead the scoring for the Riders with 20 points.
Surrey came out firing, looking to pick up where they left off the night before. Justin Robinson opened the scoring from three and the Scorchers hit three of their first four attempts from down town.
It was a tight opening to the game, with both teams trading blows. Padiet Wang put on a show in the early going with two highlight dunks, a three-ball and a blocked shot.
Leicester kept answering back though through the play from Kimbal Mackenzie and their dominance on the glass. Back to back buckets before the buzzer gave them a 5 point lead after the first.
Samuel Idowu came out firing for the Riders in the second, as he hit back-to-back threes to extend their lead.
After a hot start, the Scorchers went cold from the field. The lead had ballooned to 14 when Andrew Lawrence drove to the basket and felt he was fouled. He had words with the referee and was hit with a double technical and ejected from the game with 05:15 remaining before half time.
Surrey lost their composure after this and another techinal was assessed to Head Coach Lloyd Gardner. After a disastrous quarter the Scorchers found themselves behind by 22 at the break.
Playing short handed and facing an uphill battle, the Scorchers never really looked like recovering from this deficit. To their credit, they kept playing and didn't allow the score line to get out of hand like it did against Cheshire recently.
During the third period Leicester's lead got as high as 28, but Jamison continued to work hard and kept the score line in check for the hosts. Quin Cooper did his bit for the scoring as well, finishing the night with 16 points off the bench.
Surrey finished the game well, winning the fourth quarter by 5 points, but of course it was all academic at this point.
Leicester dominated on the boards, winning the rebounding battle 52-30. They also shot 50% from the field and 51% from three. It was a shoot out that the Scorchers didn't win and the visitors left with a deserved 20 point victory.
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