BBL Championship: Cheshire Jets 59 Leicester Riders 80

Oct 16 2011 by Alec Doyle, Chester Chronicle

FOUR defeats in four is how the Cheshire Jets currently stand after losing the first game of the BBL Championship season.

Observers could point to Leicester Riders' signing of Drew Sullivan as a tipping point in this match but there was much more to it than  that.

Jets head coach John Lavery's assessment of the situation following their heavy defeat on Sunday night included the frank admission that his side are currently not delivering the goods.

"Leicester will be a strong side this year, they went 10 deep," he said. "I don't think it's a confidence issue, I just think we're not playing well at the minute.

"Throughout a season you are going to have highs and lows and at the moment we just need to get that win. Once we do, I think we'll be fine."

For the Jets there were positives, but each was tinged with a bitter aftertaste. Matt Schneck, who has been the focus of some criticism from the crowd in the early stages of the campaign, managed a double-double of 18 points and 17 rebounds, but missed eight of his 10 free throws.

He wasn't the only one as the Jets put down only eight of 24 from the charity stripe. And his impressive rebound rate far eclipsed his teammates as he made almost half his team's 40 rebounds at both ends of the court.

Colin O'Reilly snared one of his classic three pointers as he, Bill Cole and Adam Brown all found their range in the early part of the game, but that petered out as the Riders took control.

Ultimately the team that scored more won, as the Riders had 65 field goal attempts and sunk 33 while the Jets had 74 and only drained 23.

One other positive to come from the game was that no Jets fouled out  but it was a performance that did not please Lavery or the crowd.

The Jets now have a week away from the Northgate Arena as they travel to face Mersey tigers in the dead rubber match in the BBL  Trophy on Friday, but Lavery was keen to state that the game was not being treated lightly by a side that needs some sort of win, no matter where it comes from.

"We're going to go the the Tigers and try to work hard to win that game," he said. "We are going to go out and work hard for this organisation and we will work hard on the practice floor to do that and you will see the result of that in the forthcoming weeks.

"We've got a new bunch of guys. Playing home or away shouldn't make any difference, when you walk into an arena it's the same size court the same size ball, We just have to do a better job putting the ball in the basket."