Riders turn on the style in Trophy win over Leopards

A lot was expected of the Leicester Riders as they arrived for their BBL Trophy clash with the London Leopards, thanks to the signings of American big man, Brett Royster and GB Captain Andrew Sullivan and despite a testing opening quarter, the Riders did not disappoint.

From his very first touch of the ball, Sullivan showed he was fully focused on the task at hand despite the distractions of the week leading up to it, as he grabbed the opening tip and converted a lay-up to open the scoring.

A combination of early foul trouble for the Riders combined with a physical opponent and the Leopards near flawless free throw conversion, meant that at the end of the quarter the Riders were tied at 29.

Despite the brief scare the Leopards had given the Riders, the home side stood firm and in the opening minutes of the second period the BBL side turned on the style on both ends of the court as they established a lead that they wouldn’t relinquish for the rest of the game.

At half time and with the Riders looking comfortable at 59-42, the only threat posed to them by the Leopards was by their two star Americans – Ousman Krubally and Vernon Teel (17 points and 11 points respectively).

The second half was more of the same from both sides as the Leopards valiantly tried to impose themselves on the game while the Riders continued to apply pressure and score from every angle.

The final score of 104-78 (Riders win) was a fair reflection of the Riders dominance from the second quarter onwards and although they still require the Leopards to knock off the Lions, it was an encouraging performance for the rest of the season ahead.

Drew Sullivan:

“We have a really talented bunch of guys.  If we can play like we played tonight, more often than not we’re going to win games. One of the things that stood out to me is how much they like to share the ball, they try to get each other easy shots. In a league like this, that’s truly important.”

Coach Rob Paternostro:

“They’re a difficult team to defend.  I’ve watched a lot of BBL teams on tape this year and I find them maybe more difficult to defend on the perimeter than a lot of teams I’ve seen so that was a challenge for us.  I thought we did a good job of wearing them down.  I thought they were exhausted by the time we got to the 2nd quarter and that’s what our bench does.”

“I thought Sullivan was fantastic.  He had 30 points but it wasn’t just about that.  It was about his ability to read the game. I think he’ll be able to help a lot of the young guys by reading the game and I thought he did that tonight.”

“Royster…For a guy who just got off the plane, he was pretty lively.  You’re talking about a guy who flew cross country across the United States and then flew all the way over to England yesterday.  In the end of the game, he was showing some life and looked good.  I liked the way he boxed out, I liked his presence in the paint.  We’ll come  up against a lot of teams in this league that have got some size and have some guys inside and we’re going to need to box out and command that area and I thought he did a good job.”