Riders suffer double injury blow

Leicester Riders have been hit by a double injury blow to leading scorers Bradd Wierzbicki and Phil Missere.

Top-scorer Wierzbicki, who averages almost 20 points per game, faces six weeks out after tearing ankle ligaments against Plymouth Raiders last week.

And Missere, who tops the BBL charts in rebounding and blocked shots, is set to be out for a month with a knee injury.

"Those two players have really dictated how we've played in the past couple of months," said coach Rob Paternostro.

"In all my years in the BBL, I can't recall a team that, so late in the year, has been hit with such a double-blow.

We are going to have to try to figure out how our guys can play without these two important players

Rob Paternostro

"But we do have some good players who are still around and more importantly we have a bunch of guys that have been very resilient all year.

"We are going to have to play in certain ways that we haven't done before and try to figure out how our guys can play without these two important players."

Missere, who been named Molten player of the month for February, has helped Riders continue their push for home court advantage in the play-offs with four wins from six games over the month.

The 25-year-old missed the home defeat against Plymouth Raiders on Saturday, but prior to that averaged 19.8 points and 12.4 rebounds per game.

He also averaged two blocks and 3.2 assists during February as Riders finished the month in joint fourth spot with 14 wins from 23 games.

Missere will miss at least half of Riders' remaining 10 games while Wierzbicki should return in time for the last couple of regular season games, although neither is guaranteed to play another game this campaign.