Brummie scrappers out last tough Bears
Pertemps Bullets Birmingham gained a modicum of revenge for their Cup loss against Brighton Bears on Wednesday, coming away from the Brighton Centre with a tough 63-68 win over the hometown Bears.
As a scoring exhibition, this was more House of Horrors than Sistine Chapel as both sides found points hard to come by, particularly from three point range.
Maybe it was the hangover from mid-week but baskets were picked up from turnovers and misses more frequently than in open play, a fact reflected in the scarcity of foul calls acquired by either side.
Bears boss Charles Bannerman was able to call on Jon Gaines again after injury, but elected to leave him resting in the bench at the start.
Without their principal scoring threat, it was nonetheless the hosts who got off to the more effective start, spurting out early for a 10-2 lead.
Lee Walker's introduction in place of the healthy-again Yorick Williams enabled the visitors to close back to 14-13 at the end of first quarter, but it was the England international whose score gave Bullets their first lead with 6:41 left in the half.
Neither side was firing on all cylinders and it was left to the hard working big men - Bullets' Shawn Jamison and Bears Charles Claxton to scoop up the available scraps afforded by their backcourt counterparts, as both headed for a double double statistic.
Six straight points from Brighton squared the tie at 40-40 nearing the close of the third period and 3/3 from the line from Michael Brown sent the hosts into a single point lead with 4:56 to play.
But it was Jamison and the excellent Justin Phoenix who edged Bullets back into a lead as each side scrapped for the points - hustling admirably for every available loose ball.
Two three pointers from Brown matched one apiece from Nigel Lloyd and Phoenix and kept the result alive to the finish but two quick pairs from the line opened Bullets lead out to eight points - an advantage which Jon Gaines last second try could not dent.
"We were just out to out-tempo them," admitted Lloyd, who had 16 points. "We knew it was our turn tonight."
Jamison hit 17 points and 13 points while Claxton notched 11 points and as many rebounds, the duo only outscored by Brown on 18.
"Our intensity was poor on Wednesday night which we wanted to step up," admitted Bullets coach Mike Finger. "However I though Nigel did a great job of stopping Lormont Sharp which worked for us."
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