The Manchester Giants fell short after the international break against the Bristol Flyers 58-81.

‍After a 3 week break due to internationals, the Manchester Giants were back in action tonight against the Bristol Flyers in their first matchup of the season and in the BBL Championship. Tonight's game also saw the return of Agent 0 Martaveous McKnight who left earlier in the season for personal reasons, the volume scorer was back where he belongs in a Giants jersey.

Malcolm Delpeche of the Flyers gets things underway with a wide open dunk followed by a second easy basket to give the Flyers an early 4-0 lead. After a 7-0 scoring run from the flyers, Tyrik Armstrong sets the Giants off with a close score off a pump fake after the team went 0-4 in the opening two minutes. Giants still showing early fight with physical defence despite scoring struggles after only 2 makes in 4 minutes with the score 4-15 in favour of the Flyers.

Bristol continued their stranglehold on the first quarter keeping a double digit lead until Will Saunders hit a three from the right elbow to revive the Giants first quarter. Jordan Whelan also hits from beyond the arc at the right elbow followed by a pair of Jack Hudson free throws with 7.5 seconds left. That was the length of the Giants scoring this quarter as the Giants trailed 16-23.

High energy defensive efforts kicked off the Giants second quarter restricting the Flyers to 2-4 field goals and steals from Tyrik Armstrong and Jordan Whelan. The Giants are slowly trying to claw back this lead with a plethora of free throws and scoring from inside the arc as shown by Agent 0 who makes a mid range jumper to announce himself back to the Giants faithful.

As much as the Giants attempted to gain ground on the Flyers, Bristol kept them at arm's length in the form of a double digit lead. Lloyd Gardner’s men showed some incredible defensive displays in this quarter capped off by a Jack Hudson steal at half court which fell to Will Saunders who gave it back to Hudson on the fast break, Captain Jack later laid it off to Jordan Whelan who found Will Saunders for another three. This time at the left elbow.

Saunders and Hudson didn’t stop there with Saunders making back to back threes and Hudson making one from mid range. Geno Artison got himself involved in the scoring output with a three of his own to beat the buzzer for the first half. Both teams headed into the locker room 35-44 in favour of the Flyers.  

A block from behind courtesy of Geno Artison is how the third quarter gets truly underway followed by a tough layup by Tyrik Armstrong off the back of a Francois Lewis steal. The scoring didn’t cease there as Jamell Anderson hit from the wing, Tyrik Armstrong facilitating the play and finding the GB international wide open. The flyers continued to keep the Giants at arms length this quarter,  a combination of physical defence that was preventing easy makes whilst translating that physicality into their offensive play too with most of their makes coming from inside the paint.

Even so, the Giants were still showing signs of life through Will Saunders who is 4-5 from beyond the arc in the third quarter. With  Will Saunders picking up a 5th foul to add to Giant troubles, they also continued to trail the Flyers. This time by 18. Two turnovers from two offensive possessions open up the final quarter of action.

Even with the Giants down, Captain Jack still leads by example after scoring another from midrange off the pick and roll set by David Ulph, showcasing that partnership that was so instrumental last season. The Flyers lead slowly getting larger as the final quarter progresses due to The Giants scoring troubles that have seemed to be the constant problem.

Despite clear effort, lady luck was not on the Giants side with scoring seeming as tricky as threading the eye of a needle. Nevertheless, Manchester ploughed on trying to downsize the Bristol lead. Despite best effort the Giants unfortunately fell short in their first encounter with the Bristol Flyers Jamell Anderson led the Giants in scoring tonight as he finished with 13 points on 3-5 from the field and 6-7 from the free throw line.

David Ulph saw considerable game-time in this matchup and did not disappoint as he crashed the offensive and defensive glass with 10 rebounds in total, leading all Giants. His partner in crime Jack Hudson also showed great defensive prowess picking up a trio of steals.

‍Head Coach Lloyd Gardner Said ''I thought a couple of the guys off the bench showed a lot of heart, which was lacking for us. First half I was disappointed with our physical effort, second half we tried to fight but perhaps in the wrong way. Positives are we’ve got our first game out of the way after a long break, it felt like that times with our execution. It felt like we hadn’t played in a while so hopefully we can get better on Sunday''.

‍More Giants basketball to come this weekend as the Manchester Giants are back at the National Basketball Performance Centre this Sunday as they face off against the Surrey Scorchers.