Durham Wildcats moved to 5th place in the British Basketball league table with their second win in eight days securing the best start in their three seasons playing at the top level.
The visitors led from the start and never relinquished control, to end the game with a comfortable 79 – 100 victory.
The Wildcats took advantage of Surrey’s mistakes and capitalised on turnovers in the early exchanges during Sunday afternoon’s game at Surrey Sports Park.
With just three minutes on the clock Durham led the game 4 points to 12 following early baskets from Devin Ginty and Odiba Attah. Points from Dusha and Felix rallied the hosts, and they soon levelled the match 12-12 after an 8-0 run with no reply.
Under the leadership of Captain Ralph Bucci, the Wildcats pulled together again finishing the quarter strong to lead 14-22 at the end of the first.
The visitors continued their dominance in the second quarter with impressive shooting performances from RJ Evans and Devin Ginty who continued to fire the ball well from outside the arc.
Surrey’s newly appointed head coach Jack Majewski used his first time-out half way through the quarter in an attempt to halt the Durham momentum, but the 60 second break only added to the Wildcats control of the contest. The half ended with Surrey trailing by 22 points (62-40).
Surrey started the second half looking like a different team with baskets from Felix and Tamayo reducing the Wildcats lead to 15. New United signing Kucinskas was also beginning to stamp his authority on the contest with rebounds at both ends of the floor. However, a 5th Ginty three pointer with minutes remaining of the penultimate quarter swung the momentum back to the visitors who finished the third leading by 17.
Mike Allison made the first basket of the final quarter with Ginty following up seconds later with a big 3. Surrey continued to battle until the final minutes when an RJ Evans dunk was quickly followed by Ginty’s seventh three pointer of the game which all but ended the contest.
Kirk Crecco made an uncontested lay-up on the buzzer to put his team into treble figures for the first time this season. Mike Allison continued his good form with 18 points, but it was point-guard Devin Ginty who led the games, scoring with an impressive 25 after converting seven of his nine three point attempts.
Durham take a break from league action next weekend as they welcome Cheshire Phoenix to Newton Aycliffe for the 1st round of the BBL Cup. The Wildcats have fallen at the first hurdle in the last two seasons, but on their current form, Coach Davie will be confident his side can progress to the quarter final stage. Tip-off is 7pm on Saturday 19th October, tickets are available online now at www.godurhamwildcats.com.