BBL Game Summary: Surrey United 79 Durham Wildcats 100
Today’s game saw United go toe to toe with the Wildcats for the first quarter and much of the second. However, deadly accuracy from Devin Ginty – hitting four triples in the first half – and the Wildcats kept them in the lead.
It was a slim lead for the Wildcats heading into the second quarter at 27-21. Though turnovers from Surrey allowed Durham to display their fast break game. Surrey still managed to get points on the board through Kucinskas and Dusha but costly turnovers allowed Durham to build a 46-30 lead.
It was back and forth for much of the time left in the quarter, though Durham had found their range through Ginty and Paul Elderkin; and their inside game in the form of Attah and Allison. On the other end of the court United took advantage with Kucinskas in the post – repeatedly feeding him – and Tathum-Nunn managing to hit a 3. Though Durham had built up a 62-40 lead at the half time break.
The opening minutes of the second half consisted of sloppy play from both sides before they settled back into the contest. Despite their turnovers, Surrey hustled to retain the ball – with an American football style of play, bodies flying to the floor. The experience of Bucci helped the Wildcats – always finding an open man on the perimeter or under the basket for an easy two. Surrey continued to use their new big but a few lapses at the end of the quarter allowed Durham to close on a small 6-0 run – 79-62. Surrey outscoring their visitors 22-17.
The forth quarter saw much of the same back and forth play from the first quarter. Surrey found some accuracy from long range and managed to cut the lead to 15 with 2 minutes to play. Though Ginty, who had already made 5 triples, hit back with another 2 back to back to take his tally to 24 and cut the hopes of a Surrey win.
Kucinskas led Surrey with 24, followed by Tamayo (19) and Dusha (16).
Durham were led by superb long range shooting from Ginty (24), helped by Mike Allison and RJ Evans both with 18, and Durham dominating the boards as they have done for their previous two games.