Friday 4th April, 2008
BBL Championship
Everton Tigers 90 (27,49,62) (Aliu 27, Midgley
20, Haslam 19)
Newcastle Eagles 93 (21,45,58) (Stewart 27,
Babalola 19, Dafoe 17)
(After Overtime 86-86 at the end of regulation)
Newcastle Eagles completed the first part of their bid to
win the BBL Championship this weekend with a nailbiting 93-90
overtime success over the Everton Tigers.
In a nip and took encounter neither side were able to break
clear of their opponents but it was the Tigers who held a
slender advantage for much of the game. Late in the fourth
quarter four points in a row from Tigers David Aliu looked
to have given his side the crucial advantage at 83-79 going
in to the final few minutes however some dominant rebounding
from Lynard Stewart and cool shooting from the charity stripe
from Andrew Bridge levelled things up at 86-86 with 15s remaining.
Amazingly both sides had the opportunity to win the game in
the final seconds, Tigers turning the ball over on their offence
and Eagles failing to get a decent look in their final 10s
possession.
Once in the extra period once again it was Tigers who nudged
in front, former Eagles Richard Midgeley's score with just
over 2m remaining left the hosts 90-88 to the good. However
the Tigers weren't to score again as a put back and one out
of two from the line from Stewart seperated two single free
throw successes from Andrew Bridge to give Eagles the win.
Marshall MK Lions 75 (17,39,56) (Windless/Spinks
12, Brown 11)
Worcester Wolves 97 (23,45,67) (Life 29,
Paez 27, Harker 19)
The Worcester Wolves secured their first ever playoff berth
after defeating the Marshall MK Lions 97-75 on the road.
After the teams had traded baskets early on the Wolves rattled
off 8 points without reply to lead 16-8 and although Lions
trimmed the lead back, a 12-4 finale to the first quarter
left Wolves 28-17 clear. Lions fought back in the second stanza
with a 11-2 burst and when Liam Cort scored a three pointer
on the half time buzzer the gap was back to 6 at 45-39.
Chuck Evans started the third quarter strongly for the visiting
Wolves, nailing back to back three pointers to open up a double
digit lead. The Lions stayed in contention thanks to 8 points
in the quarter from Dru Spinks but it took a Yorrick Williams
3 pointer on the third quarter buzzer to cut Wolves advantage
to 67- 56.
Once in the final quarter Lions hopes of a recovery quickly
disappeared, Terrell Brown left the game with a head injury
and a unsportsmanlike foul on Shawn Jamison and subsequent
bench technical left the game beyond Lions reach.
Wolves were once again led by profolic scorers James Life
(29 points) and Anthony Paez (27 points.
BBL CHAMPIONSHIP TABLE
No Team P W L Pts
1 Newcastle Eagles 30 26 4 52
2 Kularoos Plymouth Raiders 30 22 7 44
3 Guildford Heat 27 20 7 40
4 Marshall MK Lions 29 18 11 36
5 SAMG Verve Scottish Rocks 29 16 13 32
6 Sheffield Sharks 29 14 15 28
7 Everton Tigers 28 13 15 26
8 Worcester Wolves 29 13 16 26
9 BiG Storage Cheshire Jets 29 9 20 18
10Jelson Homes DMU Leicester Riders 30 9 21 18
11PAWS London Capital 29 8 21 16
12Team Birmingham Panthers 27 5 22 10
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