UCP Marjon Plymouth Raiders Vs Surrey Heat
(Sunday 28 October 2012)
Plymouth Raiders 78 Surrey Heat 95
By Luke Johnson
Surrey Heat sent a message to the rest of the BBL on Sunday night as they came away from Devon with an incredibly impressive 95-78 win against the previously unbeaten UCP Marjon Plymouth Raiders.
It was a result which showed Heat can be genuine title contenders, even if it is still very early in the season.
The success was due to an excellent team performanc,e but was mainlypowered by two super double-doubles from Chavis Holmes and Martelle McLemore. Playmaker Holmes had 17 points and an eye-popping 10 assists whilst his team mate top-scored with 23 points and also pulled down 11 rebounds to put Raiders to the sword.
There was initially little sign of things to come when Plymouth moved 23-14 in front after the first ten minutes, but Heat started the second quarter with the first two scores and it gave them some impetus to push on and ensure it was a closer one-shot game at 37-35 by half-time.
Raiders again looked to be the more likely victors when they went 48-41 ahead, but from that moment onwards, they were abject. Heat posted a 23-9 finish to the period and that gave them the momentum and a 64-57 lead.
Despite Raiders cutting the deficit to 66-62 early in the fouth quarter, Heat put their foot back on the accelerator with another stunning burst of scoring, this time producing a 13-3 run to kill off the home side for good.
Amazingly Heat managed to take the win despite being an absolutely stone cold zero of ten attempts from thee-point range, although this will only make head coach Creon Raftopoulos even more delighted his team could win so comfortably on a night when their perimeter shooting game wasn't present.
Colin O'Reilly and Matt Schneck both recorded terrific double-doubles in points and rebounds for Raiders, but they were the only two players to shoot with any accuracy all night for the disappointed hosts.
