BBL Championship
Kularoos Plymouth Raiders 77 (24,33,52) (Lasker 22,
Noel 18, Martin/Moore 15)
Marshall MK Lions 73 (22,40,56) (Youngblood 19, New 15, Griffin
12)
The Kularoos Plymouth Raiders finished the season in style
as they recorded a first BBL Championship win of the season
over the Marshall MK Lions, 77-73 live on Setanta Sports 2.
It was the tenth time that the Raiders have bounced back
from a half time deficit to win a game this season.
The victory means that the Raiders go into the BBL Championship
Playoffs on form after winning back-to-back games against
fellow post-season contenders, and they have won 11 of their
last 13 games. They also have a chance of holding onto second
place, although they are relying on the Heat not recording
a win in their last two games.
Drew Lasker led the way with 22 points, but it was James
Noel and Anthony Martin who combined in the fourth quarter
to win the game for their team. Robert Youngblood led the
Lions with 19 hard-earned points.
There were four early lead changes in the game, but it was
the Lions who settled the quicker, and particularly Mike New
and Tony Windless as the former had 9 points and the latter
4 to help the Lions to an 11-13 lead. Drew Lasker hit his
second triple of the game to give the Raiders the lead once
more, before a 19-19 tie was broken by a series of Peter Heizer
free-throws (5). Amazingly, Drew Lasker scored 5 points in
the last 5 seconds of the quarter as he hit a three-pointer,
whilst Jamison committed a foul inside and Lasker scored once
more from the out-of-bounds play.
Baskets from Lasker and Moore made it a 9-0 burst across
the first break and a score of 28-22. The Lions came back
with a vengeance and regained the lead after a 14-0 run in
which Windless had 4 points and a Kevin Griffin three gave
them a 30-36 advantage. The Raiders halted the run before
the half, but still trailed 33-40.
Plymouth, who had come from behind at the half to win games
on nine occasions this season, hit the first 5 points of the
third stanza to narrow the gap to 38-40. However, 6 straight
points from Youngblood capped an 8-0 response for the Lions
to make it a ten-point game at 38-48 as Ronnie Baker rolled
back the years to run the show for the visitors. James Noel
kept the Raiders close and they held it within single digits
before an 8-0 burst, capped by a Lasker triple, made it 52-53
before a Griffin dagger three-pointer on the third quarter
buzzer.
Early in the fourth Youngblood made an old-fashioned three-point
play, followed by a Griffin three, to make the score 56-64.
The momentum swung once more, and decisively, as Martin and
Noel combined to rattle off 8 points for the Raiders to give
the home side the lead at 68-66, before two lead changes ensued.
After the Raiders had completed a 12-3 burst, 6 each for Martin
and Noel, they led 72-69 with less than 5:00 to play. Two-and-a-half
scoreless minutes followed before Noel scored again. Within
the last minute, Youngblood and New scored to make it 74-73.
With 18 seconds remaining, Gaylon Moore made 1/2 from the
line before Yorick Williams was fouled by Lasker with 11 seconds
left. He missed them both before a fracas ensued in the paint
and Gaylon Moore ended up on the line at the other end with
5 seconds remaining and he made both to settle it.
BBL CHAMPIONSHIP TABLE
No Team P W L Pts
1 Newcastle Eagles 32 28 4 56
2 Kularoos Plymouth Raiders 33 24 9 48
3 Guildford Heat 31 23 8 46
4 Marshall MK Lions 33 19 14 38
5 SAMG Verve Scottish Rocks 31 17 14 34
6 Sheffield Sharks 32 17 15 34
7 Everton Tigers 31 14 17 28
8 Worcester Wolves 32 14 18 28
9 PAWS London Capital 31 10 22 20
10Jelson Homes DMU Leicester Riders 31 9 22 18
11BiG Storage Cheshire Jets 32 9 23 18
12Team Birmingham Panthers 31 6 25 12
|
