Durham welcomed the Sky Sports cameras to town for their encounter against BBL title hopefuls Plymouth Raiders, looking to bounce back with an improved performance after Friday’s defeat against the London Lions.
It was a fine display to start the game for the Wildcats taking an early 7-2 lead with Keith Page at the fore front of the action scoring early from three which seemed to settle Elderkin’s side. Despite Plymouth tying the game midway through the quarter the Wildcats kept their visitors at an arm’s length with Durham holding the lead 18-16 on the buzzer.
The tables turned in Plymouth’s favour when they went on an 8-2 scoring run to give them their first lead of the game with Schneck and Barnett working well under the basket. The Raiders had full control in the second quarter boosting their lead to a 13 point gap before taking advantage of a poor defensive display by the Wildcats creating a 21 point lead at the end of the second quarter as the score board stood at 31-52.
Wildcats found themselves in a scoring crisis with the Raiders firing on all cylinders in the third quarter with O’Reilly make a huge impact for Plymouth as they made an offensive statement gradually increasing their lead with Jeremy Bell showing why he will be in contention once again for league M.V.P. Durham couldn’t compete with the Raiders outside shooting and found themselves 40 points down at the end of the quarter with the score at 45-85.
Both sides were trading baskets early in the final stanza but it was Plymouth once again who continued their scoring streak breaking the 100 mark with over 5 minutes left on the clock. The Wildcats looked to shorten the deficit but the Raiders kept charging on and scoring on the buzzer to end a poor performance, 68-118.
A very disappointed Coach, Dave Elderkin commented “Very disappointed to say the least. We are all going to put this weekend’s games behind us and move onto the next game where we will be looking to bounce back.”
MVP – Jeremy Bell (Plymouth Raiders) 27 points and 7 rebounds, Jeremy showed why he is one of the best players in the league at this game and Durham struggled to control him.
Wildcats – Andrew Keister, 16 points. Keith Page, 14 points. Mike Baldarelli, 10 points.
Raiders – Jeremy Bell, 27 points. Michael Ojo, 22 points. Colin O’Reilly, 22 points.
