BBL Championship: Cheshire Jets 81 Worthing Thunder 75

Nov 21 2010 by Alec Doyle, Chester Chronicle

AFTER losing their unbeaten league record despite fighting bravely on Friday night, the Cheshire Jets had a chance to get back on the horse quickly this evening at the Northgate Arena as Worthing Thunder rolled into town.

Whether it was the hangover from their first BBL Championship defeat or not, the Jets, missing Matt Schneck as they did on Friday due to a back injury, were slow out of the blocks and Worthing had the edge for much of the opening two periods as they beat the Jets to almost every rebound.

It forced head coach Paul Smith to get stuck into his players and demand more heart from them and after the half-time break a more determined Jets took to the court.

Gareth Murray was at times frustrated by his handling errors but he more than made up for that with quick ball movement and two great long passes that switched defence into attack and provided Quemont Greer with two impressive dunks as he rattled along, scoring 27 by the final buzzer.

Greer did not take the game-high plaudits however, as Jeremy Bell made 30, with a higher than normal ratio of points inside the paint as the team made up for the lack of their bully-under-the-basket Schneck.

Sherrad Prezzie-Blue, Adam Williams and Shaun Durant were in-form to keep the Jets honest until the end for the Thunder, but by the end the Jets had found their feet once more and were able to hang on for the win.

Afterwards Smith said it was a tough outing for the Jets but the right result.

"Prezzie-Blue caused us some problems and we seemed to have a bit of lead in our legs from Friday so we were grateful to get across the line and get a win.

"If we don't start well the crowd goes a little quiet and we have to get going to them into the game a little bit but credit to Worthing they came with a gameplan and made it tough for us.

"There was no lack of effort from the guys tonight but technically they really hurt us with the rebounding because they do crash the boards and if we had managed that area of the game better then maybe we'd have broke the game open a bit earlier."

And while Smith couldn't expand on the injury to Schneck, he admitted the rookie's absence had opened up an opportunity for the ever-improving Calvin Davis to stake a claim for his place in the starting five.

"It's an opportunity for other guys to step up and they did, particularly Calvin, he's had a good couple of days. He struggled a bit with his shot tonight but he's played hard for us."

The Jets' game at the Liverpool Echo Arena against Mersey Tigers on Wednesday evening has been postponed.