A last second bucket from Surrey United’s Kramer Knutson sent the Wildcats home to Durham with an 80-78 defeat on 10th January. The loss drops Durham to a 7-12 record overall and the Wildcats continue to search for their first back-to-back to wins and road victory since late October.
Fran Urli and Ralph Bucci kept the Wildcats in the contest with their combined seven three-pointers, most of them coming late in the game. Urli was the co-game leader in scoring with 23 points and he had eight rebounds and four assists in his strong performance Saturday night. Bucci added 13 points from four three-pointers and one free throw. Two consecutive deep baskets from the captain gave the Wildcats their final lead of 78-76 with 1:21 left to play before Surrey United scored their final four points to secure the win.
John Puk shot 6-10 from the field, earning himself 12 points. Panos Mayindombe overcame last week’s ankle injury and had 10 points from a strong shooting performance 4-6 overall including nailing both of his three-point attempts. He also had four assists and a steal.
Chris Jones led all players in the match with six assists in addition to his six points, four rebounds and the Wildcats’ only other steal. David Buchberger and Sam Martin each had five points and Joel Madourie added four.
The Wildcats trailed at halftime 37-35 but came out of the break strong with a 14-3 run to take a 49-40 lead. Surrey United answered back with their own string of buckets to later even out the score. Throughout the contest it was Surrey’s ability to score in the paint which gave Lee Davie and the Wildcats struggles. Fifty-two of Surrey’s 80 points came within the key, besting Durham’s 30 points from that area.
Overall, the Wildcats were 29-59 (49.2) shooting from the field and they were 11-12 from the free throw line. Surrey United struggled from distance, going 2-11 from beyond the arc. Yet they shot for 58 percent from close range.
Surrey United improve to 4-15 in regular season play and lifted themselves out of the bottom of the ladder. Durham remain in 8th place thanks to the Wildcats’ nearest table rivals Bristol Flyers’ 82-59 defeat to Leicester Riders.
