Raiders start season with 22 point win over Lions

Starting Fives:

UCP Marjon Plymouth Raiders: M Schneck, C.O’Reilly, J.Barnett, M.Ojo, J.Bell
London Lions: A.Sturt, T.Ogedengbe, D.James, N.Pedroso, O.Jackman

Early season favourites, the Plymouth Raiders, got their season off to the best start possible with a comfortable 108-86 victory over the visiting London Lions, thanks to an early season-high 40 points from the Raiders Jeremy Bell.

Bell, who is in his second season with the Raiders having previously won the MVP award with the Cheshire Jets in 2010, had a balanced scoring effort across all quarters, before exiting the game with 40 points.

The game started with the new-look home side winning the tip-off and from there, they never looked back, steadily increasing their lead to 17 as they headed into the half up 58-41. The Raiders continued to hold their advantage and at one stage pushing it out to 73-46 midway through the third quarter before finishing the game with a 22 point win under their belts at 108-86.

Michael Ojo and Matt Schneck ably supported Bell with 23 points and 17 points respectively, while the Lions forward parring of Duane James and Orlan Jackman, combined for 32 points.

Newest Raider, Liam Potter, had a solid debut with eight points and five rebounds in just over 10 minutes.

Game MVP:

Jeremy Bell – 40 points in his first game of the season, Bell hit an incredible 66% of all his shots.

Game quotes:

Raiders coach Gavin Love told www.bbl.org.uk he was both pleased and relieved with his teams first win: “It was very important to get that first win under our belts and give us confidence going in to next week’s game.

“Jeremy Bell had a huge night but Mike Ojo partnered him extremely well in the backcourt whilst Matt Schneck had a solid game posting a double-double.”

Next up:

London Lions vs Surrey Heat, Friday 5th October at the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre
UCP Marjon Plymouth Raiders vs Manchester Giants, Sunday 7th October at the Plymouth Pavilions