After what seemed like the kick start to the Surrey 89ers’ season two weeks prior, this weekend produced a real setback.

With momentum from a great win away at Manchester in their previous fixture, the 89ers could be forgiven for welcoming Bristol Flyers to the Surrey Sports Park full of confidence. A must-win fixture to begin the trophy campaign, with London Lions lurking in this group.

Earlier in the season, Bristol had visited the SSP and dealt the Niners a comprehensive 30-point beating. A display which really cemented the Flyers as a legit team in Super League Basketball. It couldn’t happen again, could it?

The Niners were once again without the injured Owen Koonce but boosted by the return of Andrew Lawrence. Bristol themselves are missing Owen McCormack.

An awful start

A beginning to the game – which can only be described as shambolic from the Niners’ perspective – saw the home team register only nine points in the opening 10 minutes. In fact, throughout the entire opening quarter, the Niners failed to make a two-point field goal. Only two 3 pointers from Kareem Queally and three made free throws added to the measly total.

The second quarter didn’t really improve. The physically dominant Flyers won the quarter 32-16, with the very impressive group of William Yoakum, Zach Anderson, Cam Holden and Joseph Anderson enjoying the freedom of Surrey to score almost at will.

Credit where it’s due, the Niners showed heart to come back and win the third quarter and tie the fourth. Finally, some Niners shots began to fall, and the second half was a far more competitive spectacle.

Some shocking statistics from the Niners’ perspective in this match tell the story of how Bristol were able to run out comfortable 79-97 victors.

The Niners shot just 30 from 79 field goals, and 8/36 (22%) from three-point land. It seems for years that free throws have been an Achilles heel, and this game was no different, 11 made shots from 23 charity stripe attempts.

Surrey’s campaign has become unpredictable

It is becoming very hard to work out the Niners at this early stage of the season. During the two victories against Manchester and the narrow defeat to Leicester, the Niners have looked impressive.

Perhaps a reason for the inconsistency could be attributed to the stop-start nature of the fixtures. Most teams in the league have played far more games than Surrey. It seems so far, whenever some momentum is built, another two-week break between fixtures arrives.

As the Niners head north of the border this weekend to face the Caledonia Gladiators, who themselves have comprehensively beaten Surrey this season. Lloyd Gardner and the team must find a way to find some consistency. When the shots are falling, we look like a match for anybody. Perhaps more concerning is the inability to prevent the opposition from scoring.