Cheshire Phoenix were unable to make it two wins in three days as they were edged out 76-70 at home to London Lions on Sunday night.
In front of a bumper crowd of around 1,100 at the Cheshire Oaks Arena, the Nix couldn't follow up their superb 97-87 success at in-form Glasgow Rocks on Friday night as they were out-rebounded by the Lions, who had former Phoenix star Demond Watt pull in a double-double.
Akeem Ellis rediscovered his shooting form having struggled offensively at Glasgow as he drained 26 points in the defeat, shooting almost 60% from the field. Danny Huffor continued to impress with 19 points and five boards while Kinu Rochford grabbed a double-double of 11 points and 14 rebounds.
The Nix were slow out of the box in the first quarter and London stretched their lead to double digits at one stage before the hosts rallied to trim the lead to just four at the end of the opening 10 minutes.
Cheshire, who turned the ball over 15 times against London as opposed to just four on Friday at the Rocks, did hit the front in the second but a three point lead at 33-30 was as good as it would get for head coach John Lavery's men as London fought back, and Alex Owumi's deep buzzer-beating three before the break saw them head into the locker room with a four-point advantage at 39-35.
The Nix started the third poorly and London ran out to a 14-point advantage early on, leaving the home side with a mountain to climb. But they knuckled down and hauled themselves back into contention by the fourth and were just three points off the pace with three minutes to go in the final stanza.
But they failed to convert offensively down the stretch and the Lions continued to out-rebound Cheshire, pulling in offensive boards with far too much ease to see out the contest in relatively comfortable fashion.
“We thought it was anybody's game at half-time and whoever wanted it more would take it,” said Lavery.
“The encounter was very balanced but we really got hurt in two areas. We turned the ball over 15 times but, more than anything, they had 16 offensive rebounds which absolutely killed us. When you put those two things together you don't really deserve to win the game.
“We wanted both wins as a team and an organisation, so it's disappointing just to take the one win. But that's life and we have to brush ourselves down and get ready for the visit of Leicester Riders on Sunday.”
