John Coffino was at a loss to describe his sides second half performance at Manchester Giants on Sunday as the Nix suffered a 93-85 reverse at their north west rivals in the BBL Championship on Sunday night.

Having bounced back from last Sunday’s shock defeat to Leeds Force at the Northgate Arena, the Nix had started the weekend in positive fashion with a 99-76 success at Durham Wildcats on Friday night but were left disappointed as they failed to ignite in the second half against the Giants at the Lucozade Powerdome in Trafford.

The defeat sees the Nix, who had Demond Watt top score with 31 points and 12 rebounds, remain in fourth spot in the BBL but was a blow to their chances of climbing the rankings and getting a more favourable draw in the end-of-season play-offs.

“I just don’t understand it, we just thought we were going to walk all over them in the second half and that’s not what we talked about,” said the Nix head coach.

“At half time we talked about attacking them and building on what we had in the first half but we came out with no energy. It’s inexplicable.

“They outplayed us and they beat us. They outworked us and we played poorly. The only guy that really played decent was Demond.”

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Missing influential veteran forward David Aliu through injury and centre Paul Sturgess through suspension following and on-court fracas during Friday’s win at Durham, Coffino was left short-handed on the Nix bench and admitted that fatigue is beginning to take its toll on the squad.

“We are very concious of the fatigue factor at this time of year and hitting the wall,” he added.

“There are a couple of guys that have hit the wall but that’s no excuse. The other teams have the same schedule.

“You do hit a wall at certain times of the year but you’ve got to go throught that wall.”

Coffino said the leadership that former Giant Aliu brings to his side was a big miss for the Nix, with the Liverpudlian forced to sit out with a back injury sustained against Durham.

“We are so much better with David in the line up,” he said.

“We were missing two players which really affects us as we couldn’t rest Demond much and we had Adrien (Sturt) and Taylor (King) playing different positions. But we still had a chance to win.”

The Nix are next in action on Sunday when they host Plymouth University Raiders (5.30pm).

Images from Phoenix loss at Giants from Jack Hinds.

Phoenix scorers: Demond Watt 31 points, 12 rebounds; Dustin Salisbery 16 points; Adrien Sturt 12 points, 9 rebounds; Taylor King 11 points, 7 rebounds; Martyn Gayle 8 points; Mike DiNunno 5 points; Simeon Naydenov 2 points