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Cheshire Phoenix vs Bristol Flyers – Preview

by Vlad Ionasc

The new-look Cheshire Phoenix will look to test themselves against a talented Flyers side which has already benefitted from some pre-season action against the London Lions and Sheffield Sharks. Andreas Kapoulas’ men suffered a crushing loss at the hands of the star-studded Lions, 76-96, before they narrowly dropped the game against the Sharks, 63-66.

GAME DETAILS

Date: Sunday, October 25th, 2020

Tip-off: 5 p.m.

Competition: Pre-Season

Where: EPSV (behind-closed-doors)

How to watch: FREE on YouTube

FLYERS SCOUTING REPORT

Photo Credit: Bristol Flyers

Daniel Edozie, Marcus Delpeche, Raphell Thomas-Edwards, Josh Rogers, Eric Lockett and Panos Mayindombe have all returned to the SGS College Arena ahead of the 2020/21 season.

The Eagles snapped up Josh Wilcher from the Plymouth Raiders whilst also adding the highly-rated Zach Copeland out of Illinois State during the off-season. Louis Weaver, Thomas Browne, Nassim Ladjimi and Finley Woodward have all been promoted from the academy to the first team.

Despite the impressive additions and admirable promotion of home-grown talent, the Flyers have lost their top scorer – Fred Thomas – and a number of other important pieces. Lewis Champion, Levi Bradley, Chris Taylor, Jordan Nicholls and Gentrey Thomas all left the club during the summer. 

Kapoulas’ side will tip-off their third pre-season game – against the Worcester Wolves – at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday night, meaning that they’ll have less than 20 hours to recover before Sunday’s fixture at the EPSV.

KEY PLAYERS

Photo Credit: Bristol Flyers

Bristol Flyers: Zach Copeland – The sharp-shooting American is coming off a great senior year at Illinois State, where he averaged 14.5 points, 2.7 assists and 3 rebounds per game whilst shooting 38.2 percent from beyond the arc. Copeland scored a combined 45 points on 9-of-15 (60%) shooting from deep in Bristol’s pre-season games against the Lions and Sharks.

Cheshire Phoenix: Devin Mitchell – The Nix will have a sniper of their own on Sunday evening. Mitchell made the third most three-pointers (215 in total) in Georgia State history. He also ranks third in 3-point percentage (42.4 percent) in program history. Mitchell too enjoyed an impressive senior year at Georgia State, where he averaged 12.2 points, 1.9 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game, whilst shooting an eye-watering 43.3 percent from 3-point range.

COACH’S CORNER

Ben Thomas: “I’m really looking forward to getting out there and competing again! It’s been a while!

“We know it’s a pre-season game but I know the guys are really hungry and want to start our season out on a win.

It will be a tough game because Bristol have been together longer and have already had a couple of games, so that in-game chemistry will be there.”

GO PHOENIX!

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