Rob Paternostro has paid tribute to his assistant coaches LaTaryl Williams and Phil Gleadall after the pair guided Leicester Riders to victory on Friday night.

A family emergency meant Paternostro missed the trip to arch-rivals Milton Keynes, but his deputies oversaw a pulsating 99-96 victory for the Jelson Homes DMU-backed squad.

Paternostro said: "I've a lot of faith in LaTaryl and Phil.

"I respect their basketball knowledge and they've been with me the whole time I've been here, so they both understand what we do and obviously they did a great job.

"We knew it was going to be a difficult game but, having just one game at the weekend, we were able to prepare all week for the Lions."

Cameron Rundles was the hero of the hour, with 30 points including three-pointers to tie the game with 45 seconds to go and then win it with five seconds left.

Paternostro said: "He has hit a lot of big shots for us this year. It's very rare you get a rookie who comes into the league and has that kind of confidence to make those big plays. He has done it many times this season both home and away."

The game marked the midpoint of Riders' league campaign and they have registered 12 wins in their 15 contests, equalling the club's best return in the top flight, set in the 1990-91 season.

"That's a really nice mark for us," said Paternostro.

"As the season has gone on, we feel like we can win every game. But, to be 12-3 in this league, you have to be playing at a high level and for the most part we have been. The beauty of it is when we go to practice every day we feel like we still have a lot we can improve on and we are going to need to improve to maintain this pace."

Most impressive of all has been the away form, with two thirds of their league games so far being on the road and wins claimed in all but one of them.

That is a requirement for Riders to challenge for honours, given a fixture quirk which means they play 16 away games and only 14 at home this season.

Paternostro said: "With the BBL giving us a schedule that has more road games than home games, I guess it was going to be very important to make sure our away form was good.

" It says a lot about our players that they have the confidence to go into somebody else's building and come out with a win. We feel good about that and we hope to continue to build on the success."