Cheshire Phoenix continue to struggle in the British Basketball League (BBL) after they went down to their sixth defeat in eight league games at home to Sheffield Sharks on Sunday.
The Nix were well beaten 93-78 at the Cheshire Oaks Arena to go 2-6 in the league under head coach Colin O’Reilly.
Malcolm Riley led the way with a 21-point haul from the bench with all five starters also in double figures for the Sharks - who did their damage in the third period.
Sharks led by as many as seven in a high-scoring opening period before the home side responded to take the lead at 22-21. Both teams continue to trade runs in the first half with Sheffield managing to edge ahead by one at the interval.
A 9-0 start to the third made it a double-digit advantage for the Sharks before Cardell McFarland later scored 10 unanswered points to put his side up 17 points at 54-71.
Cheshire began to mount a fightback and closed to within 11 in the fourth but a three from Colin Sing started a 7-0 run for Sheffield and the visitors were able to see out the victory from there.
Jawad Adekoya top scored for Phoenix with 17 points on his BBL debut with Josh Wilcher handing out seven assists to go with 15 points in defeat.
New signings
Cheshire have added two new players to their roster as they look to turn around what has been a poor start to the season.
The Nix added American forward Maurice Lewis-Briggs and guard Adekoya to their ranks ahead of Sunday’s defeat to Sheffield with Josh Fox and Marcel Mosley having been released to make room for the duo.
Lewis-Briggs joins the club from T71 Dudelange in Luxembourg and also played in the Georgia Superleague during the 2015-16 season.
Adekoya, who holds a British passport, joins the club straight from Chicago State Cougars college, where he spent two years.
