Surrey Scorchers fell to a 71-62 loss against the Sheffield Sharks on Thursday night, as they suffered a poor shooting performance on a tough night on the road.
After shooting just 8 of 31 from three-point range, the Scorchers were never able to get their offence going against the meanest defence in the BBL. Despite a spirited effort down the stretch, this was an uphill climb all night for Surrey in a game that they never lead.
RJ Eytle-Rock lead the scoring for the hosts, as he put up a game-high 16 points in a low scoring affair. It was a convincing win for the Sharks, who returned to winning ways on home court and held on to 6th place in the BBL standings.
After both teams missed early shots, it was the hosts who siezed the initiative in the early going. Eytle-Rock and Malek Green combined to give the Sharks an early 7-0 lead, as the Scorchers made a slow start to the game.
With the home team building up a head of steam, Surrey responded. Cam Gooden scored their first bucket of the game and sparked a 7-2 run before the commercial timeout. Soon after, Saiquan Jamison posted up and levelled the score.
As the momentum seemed to be with the visitors, Sheffield responded with 8 consecutive points. Prentiss Nixon made two really tough three-point shots, as the hosts went back in front. With the first quarter winding down, Emeka Obukwelu took an ill-advised three-point attempt which was off the mark. Sheffield got the rebound and Nixon hit again at the buzzer to give his team a commanding 20-9 lead.
Sheffield started the second quarter as they'd ended the first, as they scored the first six points to go up by 16. Josh Steel made a timely shot from downtown as he looked to get Surrey going and cut into the home side's advantage. As the half drew to a close, buckets from Andrew Lawrence and another from Steel reduced the defecit and the Scorchers went in at half time trailing by 12 points.
It felt as if the Scorchers would need to make a good start to the second half to have a chance of coming back in this game. Abdul Mohamed hit a corner three to answer Green's opening bucket for the hosts. But Sheffield had a firm grip on this game and they refused to let up, as they continued to make shots and held their opponents at arm's length.
It was an uncharacteristic shooting performance from the Scorchers, as they missed some open looks from deep and found it equally tough to convert from close range. Meanwhile Pipkins and Nixon continued knocking down shots for the hosts, who held a commanding 14-point lead heading into the fourth.
Surrey made a good start to the fourth, as Gooden and Tayo made buckets to reduce the arrears to 10, as the Sharks quickly called a timeout. Gooden was alert and stole the inbound after the timeout and got the ball to Tayo who nailed a three-point shot to make it a 7-point game.
Suddenly Surrey were in the ascendency and the lead was reduced to 5-points before the Sharks finally got their first points of the quarter, after almost five scoreless minutes. Eytle-Rock would make back-to-back buckets to restore a 9-point advantange for the Sharks.
It was a spirited effort by the Scorchers in the fourth, but they'd left themselves far too much to do, as the Sharks saw out the win in rather comfortable fashion.
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