LIONS LATE RALLY FALLS SHORT

By Jordan Clarke

A late rally by the Teesside Lions wasn’t enough to claw back a near 30-point deficit against the league-leading Bristol Hurricanes.

The first half was fairly even but a bruising third quarter gave Teesside a mountain to climb. Teesside were less than happy at some of the calls, especially when placing Lions bigs Jamie Glen and Siman Stewart on three fouls each in the first half. The nature of the calls and the impact left the team seething.

Teesside opened the game brightly and matched the visitors offensively, with perimeter shooting again being effective as Faaris Mughal and Jamie Glen hit a pair of 3’s each.

The Lions defence was also doing a fine job, restricting Hurricanes star forward James Claar in the early stages. This though left two other Hurricane big men to throw their weight around, and they did so very effectively with the ability to shoot from mid-range and attack the basket. Captain Dan Edozie hit 6pts in the first quarter alone and it would finish 20-21 in favour of the visitors.

The second quarter played out in a similar fashion to the first. Every time the Hurricanes threatened to runaway with a lead, Lions would stem the flow and respond with some great play.

Jamie Glen was a dominant force at both ends of the court and continued his excellent block tally in recent games with a huge rejection. At the other end a strong drive to the basket resulted in an And 1 finish to excite the Teesside bench and fans.

Lions points on the offensive end were coming from a number of different players, and that free-scoring offence kept the Hurricanes lead at a manageable three points at halftime, 38-41.

The third quarter was one to forget for Teesside. The lack of size and ability to guard properly for fear of another call by the ref saw the size and power of Bristol exploit this situation. American import Claar was now dominating the game and between him and Edozie, hit 21pts of the 16-35 period score.

Glen and Aaron Maxwell kept Lions afloat, but the league leaders were showing why they are number one, and things could quite easily get out of hand in the final quarter. The third finished 54-76 and Teesside now had Glen on four fouls.

As the Hurricanes continued to stretch their lead to 27 in the fourth, the hopes of the many Lions fans in attendance were slowly fading. The support of the Teesside fans was never wilting, but their was a risk of the team doing so under the pressure of the size and power advantage the Hurricanes held.

The notable character of Teesside however shone yet again, and ball pressure higher up the court forced a number of Bristol turnovers which allowed the Lions to chip away at the 27pt gap. Great defence from Mughal, Luke Mitchell & Tom Horvat reduced the deficit to just 15pts and momentum had swung the way of the hosts.

The Hurricanes were too dominant in the half court and keeping the ball away from them by unsettling the guards was working well. In the end though Teesside would simply run out of time and despite rescuing pride in the final quarter, they would lose by 15pts, 76-91.

Faaris Mughal led the Lions in scoring on the day with 19 points, while Hurricanes captain Daniel Edozie led the game with 26 points to go with his 14 rebounds.

Rebounds were a major factor in the game with Lions managing 36 compared to the visitors 54. Bristol also converted 27pts from second chance opportunities compared to just 8pts for Teesside.

Game MVP: Faaris Mughal

Top Scorers

Teesside: Mughal 19, Glen 13, Horvat 13

Bristol: Edozie 26, Claar 22, Neufville 13

Teesside will now shake it off in preparation for the big double-header next weekend away to Worcester Wolves on Saturday and Northamptonshire Titans on Sunday.

The next home game is Sunday 10^th March against Myerscough. Tickets are available now as Teesside continue their playoff push.