Team Solent Kestrels secured a 91-72 victory on the road at London Elite on Saturday evening in NBL Division 2 action. After a back and forth first quarter Kestrels controlled proceedings throughout leading by as many as 30 points in the second half.
Kestrels boasted 6 players in double figures with Andre Arissol, Greg Durand and Isa Brandon all chipping in 13 points a piece whilst Joe Lloyd added 12 off the bench.
Neither side established control of this one early on in a somewhat cagey opening spell, where Isa Brandon scored 7 straight but would be matched by London Elite forward Joshua Phillips. Ash Briggs kicked started an 8-3 scoring run to close the quarter though and that saw TSK take a 25-19 lead into the first quarter break.
A quick 6-0 run to get the second quarter underway for TSK pushed their lead into double figures at 31-19, forcing Elite into an early timeout. There was a brief response from the home side out of the timeout but a pair of triples from Andre Arissol and Greg Durand further extended the deficit to 16. That lead continued to build through-out the period and reached 20 when Ash Briggs threw down a hammer dunk off the pretty assist from Russ Gariepy. London rallied just before the interval but it was TSK who were in control 51-36.
It was a flurry of traded baskets to get the second half going as both teams raced out of the break finding their scoring rhythm. The Kestrels lead did eventually creep back up to 20 points though, this time through Joe Lloyd and Matt Hughes who connected on back to back lay ups. Lloyd and Gariepy added 5 more points to close the quarter and that would see Kestrels take a 72-47 lead into the final ten minutes.
Kestrels strung together a 7-2 run to put the game out of reach early in the 4th as the lead now stood at 30, capped off by a Joe Lloyd triple. Elite did trim the arrears before the game came to its conclusion but the damage was already done and the Kestrels second unit saw the game out for their 5th league win of the season, 91-72.
TSK now turn their attention to a huge double header weekend coming up, as they host undefeated Barking Abbey in league play at the SSC before welcoming Thames Valley Cavaliers in the National Cup Round of 16 on Sunday, tickets for both games are on sale now!
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