Riders march on

Leicester Riders won 79-92 on the road at Durham Wildcats with an excellent second half effort to keep the pressure on the BBL Championship leaders.

Bradd Wierzbicki led the Riders balanced offence with 18 points as Leicester pulled away in the third quarter to turn a one point half time advantage into a 12 point cushion.

And in the fourth quarter there was no let up as the visitors lead peaked at 20 late in the match.

Riders had led from the tip-off with a 13-4 start to the game setting the tone for a 29-20 first quarter lead.

Durham fought back well in the second period. Trailing 32-24 they levelled the match at 34-34 and then took the lead on Paul Elderkin’s three at 37-36. However, Andrew Sullivan replied with a triple and Ayron Hardy scored four points to help Riders to a 43-42 advantage at half time.

The result seemed to be in the balance when Wildcats went 52-48 up through DJ Galvin but after that it was all Riders as a 21-4 burst gave Rob Paternostro’s team a 69-56 lead.

Heading into the final stanza Leicester led 71-59 with 91-71 being the largest margin between the two teams.