BBL Championship: Everton Tigers vs. Leicester Riders
Friday 15 January 2010 (7.30pm) @ Greenbank Sports Academy
Everton Tigers will be out for revenge on Friday evening as they seek to overturn their opening day defeat to the Leicester Riders.
Coach Garbelotto will be keen for his men to continue their recent upturn in form that has seen the Tigers taste defeat only once in their last four outings.
The last time the teams took to the court back in October Leicester sneaked a close home court victory by three points thanks to a late rally from the hosts.
With the scores tied at 93 with 32 seconds remaining, it took a three pointer from Bradd Wierzbicki to seal the game for the Riders.
Garbelotto insists that it is currently difficult to tell where his team, who finished in second place last season under his guidance, will be at the end of the season:
He said: “This is a million dollar question at the present time. We would like to be at the summit competing for the top spots, but who knows?
“At present, it looks like anyone can beat anyone in this league. There are too many games to play between now and the end of the campaign, so it’s tough to start making predictions at this stage.”
“We played Leicester in our first game of the season so this will be a strange game. Even though their results have been a little up and down of late, I still count them as a top four side.
“They have a strong front court, great wing players who can score and play hard defence. It is a team I respect and I know that it will be a very tough game for us.”
The Tigers go into the game off the back of a 99-79 win over bottom-placed Essex Pirates and Garbelotto was keen to pay tribute to youngster Darrell Bethune.
He added: “I was really happy on Friday. We were short handed and we gave the opportunity to Darrell Bethune to start his first game for this club.
"He responded with 20 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists. Now for me that is what we strive for - players stepping up when they are asked. I also have to say that Olu Babalola is playing at an extremely high level at the moment.”
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