Durham out to add to Leicester woe

After being brought back to earth with a bump last weekend, Rob Paternostro is looking for an instant response when his Leicester side host Durham at the weekend.

The Riders suffered a double blow losing in the BBL Cup semi-final second leg to Newcastle on Friday before collapsing to an 84-62 defeat in the BBL Championship at the hands of Plymouth Raiders two days later.

Not only was it their first league defeat of the season, but it curbed their nine game unbeaten run.

Paternostro said: “I’m looking for a big performance from our guys this Saturday. We need to move the basketball better and find easier ways to score.

“Durham have impressed me with the way they have played so far, we have seen many teams come into the BBL and look out of their depth but that has not been the case for the Wildcats, coach (Dave) Elderkin has them playing good basketball.”

For Wildcats coach Elderkin, travelling to Leicester has probably come at the wrong time, as the Riders look to right the wrongs of last weekend’s double blow.

He said: “I saw the Riders on Sky against Sharks, and they had a strong all round performance before finishing the game well, Cameron Rundles and Ayron Hardy stood out. I also saw them at Sport Central last Friday where they were up against an awesome Eagles defensive performance. They didn’t travel well to Plymouth so we are expecting a strong and regrouped Riders’ side on Saturday.”

Durham, who will spend the night in the midlands following their game against Milton Keynes on Friday, have managed just one win from their seven league games so far, and guard Chris Pearce is expecting another difficult game.

He said: “Leicester look very much a title-challenging team, so we are under no illusions that this will be another huge test for us.”