Cheshire Phoenix head coach John Lavery was blunt in his assessment of his side's performance after they went down to a bitterly disappointing 86-80 home loss to Plymouth Raiders on Sunday.
The defeat to the lowly Raiders came on the back of a 86-79 loss at second-placed Leicester Riders on Saturday where the Nix came close to causing an upset at Loughborough University following a gutsy fightback.
But Sunday's loss against the Raiders, who included former Cheshire player Adrien Sturt in their ranks, was a disappointing affair with the Nix second best for much of the contest, despite an 11-0 start to the game.
"We lost the game, it's as simple as that," said Lavery. "
"We weren't good enough, we weren't at the races and we came out flat and slow and sloppy.
"We were poor. They could get whatever they wanted to get and we just didn't turn up to play. It wasn't one guy or two guys it was a collective poor performance. I'm not going to hide from that, I'm not going to sugar coat it, we were never in the game.
"We went on an 11-0 run and they called a time out but after that we were poor. We didn't execute and didn't play any defence. All credit to Plymouth they came in and put on a good run themselves and took the win."
The visitors racked up 30 points in the second period to establish a 17-point advantage at half-time and they were able to see off a late onslaught from Cheshire to pick up their third win of the season.
Player-coach Daryl Corletto top scored with 18 points, while Mike Vigor came off the bench to add 14 points on six-of-seven shooting and nine rebounds with Duane Bailey recording a first BBL double-double with 12 points and 13 boards.
Six players reached double figures for the Raiders, who were effective from inside the arc after shooting 60%.
It was the home side who made the brighter start after racing out to an 11-0 lead with Kinu Rochford scoring seven points early on before being pegged back by the Raiders to lead by just three at the end of the first.
Plymouth carried their momentum into the second with a blistering 16-2 start over the opening five minutes. Three pointers from Dante Williams and Josh Wilcher closed the half with the visitors up by 17.
The home side began their revival when play resumed in the second half and an 8-0 run saw them cut the gap to 10 as Danny Huffor and Jordan Williams netted from beyond the arc.
However, the Raiders kept their opponents at bay and had a 14-point advantage to protect in the fourth. The lead grew to 15 points briefly before Cheshire responded with another 8-0 burst to move within single figures.
The gap was just four points in the final minute following a three from home debutant Olu Babalola, but it proved too late as Plymouth were able to wrap up the win from the line and leapfrog Manchester Giants and Bristol Flyers as a result.
For Cheshire, it was a second defeat in as many days as they fall to 6-8 in the league despite a 25-point haul from Williams.
