Cheshire Phoenix's hopes of securing a top-three finish in the BBL Championship were dealt a blow on Saturday night as they succumbed to a 100-82 loss at high-flying Leicester Riders.
Dustin Salisbery's 28 points and double-doubles from Taylor King (17 points, 11 rebounds) and Demond Watt (10 points, 15 rebounds) couldn't prevent head coach John Coffino's side from slipping to a battling loss at the second-placed Riders.
Tyler Bernardini had the hot hand for Rob Paternostro's Riders as he drained a game-high 29 points, with his efforts aided by Rashad Hassan's 19 points and a haul of 14 for TrayVonn Wright. Neil Watson was the chief dime-dropper as he came up with 13 assists.
The Nix, who had centre Paul Sturgess on the floor for his first start for the club, had started the contest in explosive fashion as they got the better of the Riders in a breathless first quarter, going in after the opening 10 minutes 33-27 to the good.
But the Riders showed just why they are one of the league's top sides as they regrouped and found a way to stifle the Nix offence in the second, outscoring Cheshire 24-16 to head into the locker room at the half-time break 51-49 up.
The second half continued in much the same vein as the Riders frustrated the Nix as they pulled away from the visitors in the third and continued to do so in the fourth as they finished with a game-high lead of 18 points.
Cheshire were the most active on the boards as they pulled in 54 rebounds compared to Leicester's 39, but the hosts did and excellent job of sharing the basketball and posted 33 assists to the Nix's 13.
Eight fewer turnovers also helped the cause of the home side while Cheshire failed to find their usual form from beyond the arc as they made 24% from three-point territory.
Few teams have emerged from the Sir David Wallace Centre with the spoils this season and, having had almost a month on the road, the Nix will have the chance to bounce back to winning ways this weekend when they have home-court advantage over Durham Wildcats at the Northgate Arena on Sunday night (5.30pm).
