The Nottingham Hoods suffered a humiliating 129-80 defeat against Cheshire Phoenix in the first round of the BBL Trophy competition at the Cheshire Oaks Arena.
Johde Campbell and Seth Hall led the way for the hoods with 22 and 21 points respectively but it was not enough to keep up with the hot-handed Cheshire Phoenix who came out all guns blazing from the very beginning.
Four of their players finished with more than 25 points including star player, Jamell Anderson, who had a game-high 30 points, earning himself a spot alongside teammate Maceo Jack (29 points) on the BBL ‘All-Star Five’ (top-five performers of the week across the league) for their performances.
They dominated in practically all facets of the game, most notably with 21 three-pointers on 52% shooting, 44 assists and scored 34 points off of the Hoods’ 17 turnovers.
The Hoods did well to keep up with the Phoenix’s sharp shooting in the first period, the two teams were tied with just over four minutes remaining, thanks to brilliant play from their American scholar, Seth Hall, who had 15 points in the quarter.
However, Phoenix stayed on fire as they scored nine three pointers in the first quarter including three from Anderson, who had 15 points in the first period, causing all kinds of problems for the Hoods’ 3-2 zone, which forced the Hoods to switch to man marking.
Phoenix weren’t only dominating from behind the line, they also forced many turnovers which lead to many fast break points, including an alley-oop dunk from Anderson, and another dunk from him to end the quarter.
Cheshire found themselves up 18 with an unbelievable 44-24 lead heading into the second quarter.
Theo Riley had a fantastic sequence of possessions as he scored four points in 22 seconds, for the Hoods, including a reverse layup and a coast-to-coast layup off his own rebound, which was quickly answered by a smooth snatch-back mid-range jumper by Marcus Evans.
The rest of the second half was more of the same; Phoenix had more three-pointers and fast-break dunks from Anderson who was starting to put his handprints all over this game.
The Hoods found themselves down by 29 by half-time with their work cut out for them in the second half.
Both teams tried new defensive schemes in the second half, with Phoenix using a 2-3 zone and the Hoods electing to try out a 1-3-1 zone.
Hall threw an excellent full court pass to Campbell who finished with an elegant Euro-step layup.
Riley then threw a beautiful no-look pass to Josh Guddemi who cut in and finished with a dunk.
Maceo Jack kept the game the game exciting, albeit the score, with a chase-down block on Riley after Riley came away with a steal.
Unfortunately for the Hoods, despite improved offensive attacks, they could not keep Cheshire under control as they continued to add to the lead with great team-play, such as a pocket-pass thrown by Larry Austin to Lloyd Daniels who then kicked the ball out to David Ulph for a wide-open three-pointer, which he knocked down.
New signee, Moyo Adekeye scored a two pointer to narrowly beat the third quarter buzzer, to cut the lead to 39.
Despite the large lead, Cheshire elected to only empty their bench with four minutes left, enough time for the play of the game: a ferocious dunk from Jack to cap off his high scoring night.
An alley-oop dunk from Evans to Anderson followed and a the Hoods soon found themselves in a 50-point hole after a basket from Ulph.
Hall had a dunk in the last minute which helped the Hoods escape the 50- point loss however, as the score read 129-80 at the final buzzer.
The reigning Trophy champions, Phoenix, will advance to play the Surrey Scorchers in the quarter final of the Trophy.
