Report: Bristol Flyers 59-82 Leicester Riders

It was Leicester’s first trip to Bristol in the BBL, and saw them inflict the home side’s heaviest defeat of the season on their own floor – Bristol’s fourth defeat in their last five home games.

Rashad Hassan led the Riders with 23 points, the third game in a row that he has paced his team and seeing him cement his place in the league’s top ten leading scorers. British forward Jamell Anderson was in support with 19 points on the night.

And it was he who got the Riders off to a fast start, with an ‘and-one’ play that gave them an early 9-2 lead, from where they never looked back. The lead reached 13-4 before the Flyers hit back, and the hosts finished the first quarter with a 6-2 run to get back within striking distance at 15-19.

But Riders pushed their lead out from the opening of the second stanza, with an 8-1 tear including consecutive baskets for Hassan, and then scored five straight to reach 20-36 on the run up to half time. Flyers got it back to 30-41 by the break, but they would not be within single figures again.

A 13-2 opening to the third quarter, in which Hassan added 6 and Bernardini hit a three-pointer, continued a theme, and pushed the lead through twenty at 32-54, which proved to be insurmountable. The lead peaked at 57-78 on Connor Washington's three-pointer with one minute to go.

Flyers have struggled with Riders on both occasions that the teams have met this season, with these being Bristol’s two lowest scoring games. This time, the Riders scored a massive 30 points from the 21 turnovers that they forced out of their hosts.