Double defeat for Bristol Flyers in opening weekend of the league

A disappointing weekend for the Flyers, who couldn't replicate their recent cup form

Bristol Flyers suffered back-to-back defeats against Sheffield Sharks and Surrey Scorchers in the opening weekend of the BBL regular season.

The Flyers were unable to recreate their recent Cup quarter-final performance against the Sharks on Friday night, going down 71-85, despite a 21 point performance from Fred Thomas.

In a complete role reversal from the previous weekend, Sheffield sank 45% of their shots from behind the three point line and were led by Nick Lewis, who tallied 20 points and weight rebounds, whilst Mackey McKnight had 19 points on a very efficient 7-8 from the field.

The Flyers hit the road less than 24 hours later, where they led by double-figures at half-time against the Scorchers, before the hosts made four threes in a row in the fourth to hand Bristol a 93-87 defeat.

Gentrey Thomas netted 10 of a game-high 25 points in an evenly-matched first quarter, to edge Bristol ahead by with a one point after the first ten minutes.

The Flyers went on a 15-0 run in the second, whilst holding Surrey scoreless for four straight minutes, giving Coach Kapoulas’ side their biggest lead of the game at 12.

But their poor free throw percentage haunted them, with the team making just 50% from the line to leave the door open for a Scorchers comeback.

A 15-2 run for the hosts followed and Surrey briefly took the lead before Chris Taylor beat the clock to give Flyers a one-point lead heading into the fourth.

A driving lay-up from Gentrey Thomas set up a tense finish, with the game tied at 87 points apiece in the last 30 seconds.

But a jump ball saw the Flyers turnover possession, allowing Surrey to ice the game from the foul line.

What Andreas Kapoulas said

“It’s a disappointing weekend for sure. We’re all disappointed - it’s the not the way we wanted to start the regular season.

"We knew that Sheffield were going to come into the game on Friday with a chip on their shoulder and they played a good defensive game.

"We played a decent first half against Surrey on Saturday and we secured a double digit lead heading into half-time. But they had 25 in the third and the 30 points in the fourth and we ended up paying the price.

"It’s back to the drawing board, we have a BBL Cup semi-final on Friday so we need to prepare for that"

Up next

It’s another doubleheader for the Flyers this weekend, with the team traveling to London City Royals in the first leg of the BBL Cup semi-final on Friday night, before hosting Worcester Wolves in the league on Saturday, December 14th at the SGS College Arena (7.30pm tip-off).