Sunday 6th April, 2008
BBL Championship
The Newcastle Eagles have won the BBL Championship title
for the second time in three years after defeating last season's
winners, the Guildford Heat, 101-108 in overtime to secure
the championship on their opponent's floor. Steve Leven hit
30 points in the game as the Eagles posted an historical fourth
quarter comeback; they outscored the Heat 26-8 in the fourth,
turning over a twenty point deficit, with player/coach Fab
Flournoy's two free-throws forcing overtime with 14 seconds
left. The Eagles posted a 10-1 burst in the extra period and
the celebrations began.
The big weekend had started well for the Eagles as they edged
out the Everton Tigers by 90-93 in another overtime game on
Merseyside on Friday night, with Lynard Stewart posting an
amazing 28 points and 20 rebounds.
After the week's action up and down the league, the BBL Championship
Playoff contestants have been confirmed as none of the current
top eight sides can be displaced. Whilst the current top three:
the Eagles, Kularoos Plymouth Raiders, and the Heat, are all
certain of home ties in the quarter-finals.
The Raiders have had a week off, and the Heat recorded a
58-94 win over the Birmingham Panthers on Saturday night.
The Marshall MK Lions still look good for the coveted fourth
spot, despite a mixed week. They fell 75-97 at home to the
Worcester Wolves on Friday night, but bounced back to beat
the Panthers by 95-74, behind 23 points from captain Dru Spinks,
on Sunday.
The Lions' closest rivals, the SAMG Verve Scottish Rocks,
are still in fifth place after an 81-89 defeat of the BiG
Storage Cheshire Jets on Sunday.
In the battle for playoff positioning, the Sheffield Sharks
are on their best run of form of the season after recording
two wins this week, taking them to four consecutive victories.
They beat their close rivals, Worcester, by 69-99 to record
their second largest win of the season on Sunday, with James
Whyte scoring 32 points.
Previously, they beat the Jelson Homes DMU Leicester Riders
83-66 in Wednesday's live game on Setanta Sports 1, ending
Leicester's playoff challenge.
The Sharks have leapfrogged the Everton Tigers into sixth,
courtesy of that good form and the poor run that Everton are
currently suffering. The Tigers lost their sixth game in seven
outings when they went down 89-81 at the PAWS London Capital
on Saturday night. The win saw the Londoners record back-to-back
league victories for the first time since November, and sets
up a big game against Leicester next week as the sides battle
for tenth place.
BBL Championship
BiG Storage Cheshire Jets 81 (25,41,60) (Obazuaye
27, Moore 22, Hamilton 17)
SAMG Verve Scottish Rocks 89 (27,51,67) (Hampton
26, Yanders 22, Davis 14)
The SAMG Verve Scottish Rocks kept their hopes of a top four
finish alive after beating the BiG Storage Cheshire Jets 81-89,
recording back-to-back road wins for the first time since
January.
The Rocks were led by Maurice Hampton's 26 points, with Rob
Yanders (22) and Sterling Davis (14) also contributing significantly.
Jayson Obazuaye led all scorers with 27 for the Jets.
The sides could barely be separated in the early exchanges,
although 12 first quarter points from Hampton helped the Rocks
to a 25-27 edge. They extended their lead in the second quarter
through consistent scoring, without any notable runs, and
led 41-51 halfway through the game.
The visitors opened up their largest lead of the game after
an 8-2 opening to the third stanza made it 43-59, before they
were pegged back by a 10-2 burst from the Jets midway through
the stanza; Trey Moore had 6 in that run, with Obazuaye scoring
the other 4, and they had narrowed the gap to 58-63. The Rocks
stayed in front after Davis scored 10 points in the quarter
as they led 60-67 going into the fourth.
All-Star point guard Rob Yanders made the difference in the
fourth period as he scored 13 points to lead the Rocks to
the win. James Hamilton scored the last 5 points of the game
to ensure that the Jets did not go down by double-digits on
their home floor, although the loss leaves the Jets with the
worst home record in the league (2-13).
Guildford Heat 101 (30,63,88,96) (Gilbert
27, Martin 24, Harrison 21)
Newcastle Eagles 108 (31,55,70,96) (Leven
30, Stewart 20, Defoe 18)
The Newcastle Eagles have been crowned BBL Champions for
the second time in three seasons after taking the title from
the Guildford Heat, on their rivals' floor, with an amazing
101-108 overtime win behind 30 points from Steve Leven.
The Eagles have been carried to the title after winning fifteen
of their last sixteen BBL Championship games and the win prevented
the Heat from being the first team to sweep them since Brighton
in 2003/04.
Fab Flournoy's team came from 18 points down with an awesome
fourth quarter display as big men Lynard Stewart and Darius
Defoe backed up Leven. The former had 20 points and 12 rebounds,
as he recorded his seventh straight double-double, whilst
the latter added 18 points.
Trailing at 88-70, the Eagles opened the fourth quarter with
a 9-1 push after good work from Defoe and Stewart and held
the Heat scoreless for 5:00. Soon afterwards a technical foul
was called on Heat Coach Paul James, resulting in two points
for Steve Leven, before an Olu Babalola basket made it a one
possession game at 96-94. With 18 seconds left, EJ Harrison
was on the line for the Heat but missed both free-throws.
Player/coach Flournoy was fouled for the Eagles and, with
14 seconds left, made 2/2 to tie the game and complete a 26-8
fourth quarter. Harrison missed a pull-up jump shot to win
the game with 2 seconds left.
The newly crowned champions carried their momentum into overtime
as they started with a 10-3 run, including four points each
from Flornoy and Babalola, for a 99-106 lead within the last
minute and the celebrations began soon afterwards.
Earlier in the game, the teams had played their way to a
10-10 tie before the Heat edged ahead after a Martin three
and two from Gilbert. Back-to-back three-pointers from Flournoy
and Leven tied the teams again at 19, before the Eagles hit
8 straight points, culminating with a Leven dunk, for a 21-27
lead. Four late points from former Eagle Dorsey saw the teams
close at 30-31 after the opening ten minutes.
After the Heat took an early second quarter lead, Leven hit
back-to-back three-pointers to see the Eagles 32-37 in front.
A 7-2 run tied the game at 46, before a Martin basket soon
afterwards gave the Heat the lead back. After a series of
turnovers from the Eagles, the Heat went in at the break 63-55
to the good after Harrison and Martin combined for the last
5 points of the half.
GB squad member James Jones opened the third quarter with
a triple to spark a 13-2 opening that stretched the Heat's
lead to 76-57. >From that point, Jones's fellow GB squad
member, Steve Leven, took it upon himself to get the Eagles
back into the game as he notched 7 straight points, but the
Eagles still trailed at 88-70 before the unbelievable final
stanza ensued.
Marshall MK Lions 95 (30,50,63) (Spinks
23, Heizer 21, Griffin 16)
Birmingham Panthers 74 (16,30,46) (Jules
22, A. Williams 21, Sandell/Popoola 9)
The Marshall MK Lions strengthened their grip on the coveted
fourth spot in the BBL Championship table after a 95-74 win
over the Birmingham Panthers, thus completing a sweep of the
second city side in league games between the teams this season.
The visiting Panthers led early in the game at 2-6, before
Yorick Williams keyed a 15-1 burst for the Lions as they went
on to win the first quarter 30-16.
The teams traded three-pointers to open the second stanza,
with Griffin scoring for the Lions, before the hosts netted
11 straight points. Griffin, a former Birmingham player, hit
5 further points as the Lions went in 50-30 in front at the
half.
The Panthers looked to get back into the game in the third
quarter, but they fell further behind before scoring the last
7 points of the quarter to give themselves hope at 63-46 going
into the fourth period.
Lions' captain Dru Spinks carried his team to the victory
in the fourth as he scored 10 points and the Lions ran out
95-74 victors.
Worcester Wolves 69 (25,40,60) (Paez 21,
Life 17, Brosko 13)
Sheffield Sharks 99 (28,53,73) (Whyte 32,
Chaney 16, Lyons 14)
The Sheffield Sharks recorded their fourth straight win,
marking their best run of form of the season, as they beat
their positional rivals the Worcester Wolves 69-99 to take
the head-to-head series between the teams.
The Sharks held the free-scoring Wolves to their third-lowest
number of points in a league game this season, and their lowest
points tally in two months, after restricting them to just
nine points in the fourth quarter.
James Whyte scored 32 points for the Sharks, whilst Shelby
Chaney added 16 and Atiba Lyons 14. Anthony Paez led the resistance
with 21 points for the Wolves.
The hosts started well and soon led 4-0, before the Sharks
came back to lead 5-6 and posted a 6-0 burst soon afterwards.
The Wolves fought back to tie the game at 13 and snatched
back the lead on a James Life three-pointer that made it 19-18.
However, the visitors finished the quarter the stronger and
took a 25-28 lead that they would not relinquish.
The Sharks scored the opening 5 points of the second and
followed that with a further 7-0 burst midway through to lead
36-48. Paez looked to keep the Wolves in it as he hit four
straight points, but the Sharks scored the last 5 of the half
to lead 40-53.
The hosts could not close the gap in the third period, and
when the Sharks started the fourth with a 14-5 burst for a
65-87 lead, there was no way back. The Sharks compounded Worcester's
misery with a further 12 straight points as they recorded
their second biggest win of the season.
BBL CHAMPIONSHIP TABLE
No Team P W L Pts
1 Newcastle Eagles 31 27 4 54
2 Kularoos Plymouth Raiders 30 22 7 44
3 Guildford Heat 29 21 8 42
4 Marshall MK Lions 30 19 11 38
5 SAMG Verve Scottish Rocks 30 17 13 34
6 Sheffield Sharks 30 15 15 30
7 Everton Tigers 29 13 16 26
8 Worcester Wolves 30 13 17 26
9 BiG Storage Cheshire Jets 30 9 21 18
10Jelson Homes DMU Leicester Riders 30 9 21 18
11PAWS London Capital 30 9 21 18
12Team Birmingham Panthers 29 5 24 10
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