Smith & Flyers out of BBL Cup
Flyers were spearheaded by Lovell Cook with a game high 29 points, though this was not enough to keep the Bristol team in the competition.
After a strong start to their 2016/2017 BBL campaign with an impressive win over Plymouth, Bristol gave up six quick easy points inside early on, against Surrey and failed to execute on the offensive end, going into the break 23-15 down.
Flyers opened the second quarter with a quick score inside, but Surrey clamped down defensively, causing Bristol's offence to stall. The ball movement became stagnant and Flyers offence became predictable.
Bristol fell in love with the isolation plays, trying to go one-on-one too often which saw Flyers go 10 for 37 for the half.
The scoreline at the half favouring the visitors 24-45.
Futile fightback
Bristol started the third with greater defensive intensity, deploying a trap defence to conjure up some turn-overs. And although it worked briefly, with three Scorcher turn-overs in the first minute. Surrey came straight back with an five unanswered points and blew the game open taking a 24 point lead, as they began to score with infectious confidence. But midway through the third quarter, Bristol began to string some field goals together and a late charge saw the Scorchers' 24point lead cut to just six points.
Bristol went into the fourth down 56-62.
The contest entered in its final period and Flyers continued where they had left off. The home team scoring with greater regularity, and tied the game 66 apiece going on a 10-4 run. Bristol had caught Surrey but could not quite take control of the game.
Scorchers methodically worked the ball around, finding open shots. Suddenly, Flyers' comeback ran out of steam. As they tried to attack from long range, Surrey countered with thigh percentage looks in the paint and built a late ten point advantage.
In the final 90 seconds, Surrey was given three free-throws and possession, effectively ending the game and the Flyers saw their cup campaign come to an end, losing 71-79.
Smith finished with 6 points, five rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals in just over 26 minutes on court. He shot 3 from 10 field goal attempts, including a 2 point dunk, but missed all three attempts from outside the arc.
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