Cheshire Phoenix began life at the Cheshire Oaks Arena on Sunday in emphatic style with a second pre-season victory in a row, defeating Irish Super League opponents Templeogue 121-51.

After recording a 96-49 win away to Lancashire Spinners on Thursday night, it was a chance for the 'Nix Nation' to pack out our new home arena in Ellesmere Port and get a first real glimpse at what is in store for them during the upcoming 2015/16 BBL campaign.

With a host of new additions to the squad and the returning Martyn Gayle and our captain David Aliu, there was plenty to savour as basketball returned to Sunday nights in Cheshire.

Four new signings joined Aliu for the tip, Ellis Akeem, Jeff Dirkin, Sean McGonagill and Jordan Williams, and despite Templeogue making the first points of the game, it was Williams who had the honour of scoring the first Phoenix basket on our brand new court.

It was a dominant start from the Phoenix, stretching to a 21-7 lead midway through the first quarter, as John Lavery's side controlled the tempo and spread the ball well on offense and were quick sharp on the break. Templeogue attempted to cut the deficit that had been built by the Nix through Mike Bonaparte, but ended the period 33-19.

Former Nix player Donatas Visockis also made a welcome return to the side having joined up with the squad this week and made the first points of the second quarter as Cheshire looked to lock down the visiting Irish side, who suffered a 76-59 defeat on the previous Saturday night against our first home league opponents, local rivals Manchester Giants.

Despite having only come together in recent days, the key message of what Cheshire is all about as a team both on and off court has sunk in quickly, as the workload was shared happily between players, holding the visitors to just six points in the quarter and extending their lead 61-25 at half-time.

It was more of the same after the break to please the Phoenix faithful in the brand new matching blue bleachers. Both Williams and McGonagill impressing from beyond the arc, the latter making three in succession as the gap grew larger still to effectively extinguish any hope Templeogue had of staying in the game, going into the fourth quarter 98-40.

Cheshire Phoenix in action at their new home against Templeogue
Cheshire Phoenix in action at their new home against Templeogue

The visitors tried in vain to put runs together, but it was to be a first home victory in our new Cheshire Oaks Arena, with young British rookies including Sedale Hanson-Young, Ben Goodacre and Max Jones all getting court time as the game played out to a 121-51 scoreline.

Jordan Williams top scored for the Phoenix with 35 points, not missing a shot from three-point range, and showed a glimpse of the dunks we will be expecting to see as the season moves forward.

Sean McGonagill chipped in with 23 points, whilst Akeem Ellis took 16 points with eight assists on top. Jeff Dirkin also turned in a fantastic double-double of 14 points and 13 rebounds.

Coach Lavery knows there's plenty more to come, and that the hard work will continue in preparation for the season to really get underway: "We've still got a lot of work to put in, we've been together for less than a week and for what we are putting out on the floor I'm fairly happy but I know there is a lot more that they can give. Everything we are focusing on this week builds up to our first league game away against Leeds Force on Friday."

Speaking about the new home of the Phoenix and how his players christened it for the fans with a first victory there, he said: "There's a great buzz coming here to this fantastic facility. The Northgate served us well for so many years, but coming here now to put on a performance like that, where the guys are working hard for each other, no selfishness with the ball, great ball movement; it makes for a great start to the season.

"We had a team meeting and outlined what our goals are for this season, we spoke about being a family for eight months, which we will be, and we said there will be ups and downs, especially if we don't play as a unit, but my players definitely took that on board and showed that here tonight."

Akeem Ellis got to experience the Nix Nation properly first-hand, and certainly made a real first impression: "I loved the fans here tonight, I could tell when I walked in that the atmosphere was great, loud, ready and definitely excited.

"This is the start of a beautiful team, and the coaches and GMs have really done their work in hand-picking the guys we have, I love who we've got here in the few days we've been together.

"The only way we are going to win trophies is if we become a family and that is the only way to win, we shared the ball well together tonight, we have confidence in each other, and then hopefully everything can start to fall into place