MK Breakers Men’s team were back in action on Saturday evening, travelling north to take on a Loughborough Riders side who had won just one of their opening seven games of the season.
Yet the visitors knew this would be a tough task, particularly as they arrived at Loughborough University short-handed. Luke Gregory, Blayne Freckleton and Kai Williams all missed the game due to injuries, forcing Head Coach Ben Stanley into changing his rotations and finding alternative solutions.
Breakers made a solid start, looking bright as they played good defence and ran in transition throughout the first quarter. Sharing the ball well, all five starters got early baskets as they trailed Riders by just five points heading into the second period, only to go away from the things that had been working.
The home side would score 33 points over the next 10 minutes, moving into a commanding lead they would never relinquish. Breakers could find no way back into the game, eventually losing 105-81 with Jalen Cook their tormentor-in-chief as he poured in 41 points, a tally boosted by 8/13 shooting from behind the 3-point line.
“It was a bad night for us,” said Breakers Coach Ben Stanley. “Of course we missed the guys who were unavailable, but that’s no excuse for not executing the game-plan and not playing the way we need to in order to be successful.”
The team are back in action at home next Saturday as Bristol Flyers II visit Bletchley Leisure Centre, with tip-off at 17:00. Tickets are available here.