Giants save weekend blushes in big Surrey victory
Manchester Giants climbed to ninth place in the BBL table with a comfortable 102-60 victory over Surrey United following their disappointing loss to the Newcastle Eagles on Friday night.
The Giants bounced back though with their second straight victory on their home floor. Led by 27 points from Stefan Gill and 26 from David Aliu their dominated their Surrey opponents from start to finish, reaching the 100 point mark for the second time in their last three games.
The home side got off to a blistering start as they made three of their first four attempts from long range to take a 13-2 lead in the opening four minutes. Gill had 16 points in the quarter including four 3-pointers as he outscored United on his own on the way to a commanding 33-10 lead after 10 minutes of action.
The second period belonged to Rob Marsden as the Giants forward put on a shooting clinic; making five of his seven attempts from the field including a powerful dunk on the fast break as he was fouled by Surrey’s Ceslovas Kucinskas. He knocked down the resulting free-throw to give his side a 46-21 lead with just over five minutes left to play in the half as the Giants didn’t miss a beat.
James jones once again led the team with eight assists on the night to go along with his nine points. He currently leads the league in assists averaging six per game. The early lead allowed Giants coach Jeff Jones to give several of his role players an extended run on court with all 11 eleven player logging at least 10 minutes of court-time. Andre Gayle-Mcintosh scored his first seven points in the BBL and looked extremely comfortable putting the ball on the floor. He drilled a 3-pointer from the right corner to cap a 15-0 run to put the home-side ahead 56-21 as they raced to a 64-22 lead at the half-time interval.
The visitors struggled to gain any sort of momentum throughout the game which has been the story of their season as they slumped to their eight straight defeat – all of which have come by double digits. Kucinskas was their lone bright spark as he finished with 20 points and a game-high 13 rebounds but they were no match for a Giants side that were able to get to any spot they wanted to at the offensive end. The home-side shot over 52% from behind the 3-point line and knocked down 81% of their free-throws.