Manchester Magic Win Men's Playoff Final
Division One Men's Playoff Final
Manchester Magic 94 (22,48,71)
Reading Rockets 82 (27,47,64)
 Taner
Adu collected the MVP award as Manchester Magic collected
a hat-trick of trophies after defeating Reading Rockets 94-82
at the EIS-Sheffield in the final game of the Sportscover
Final Fours.
Adu finished with 25 points (off a perfect shooting night)
and five rebounds as Magic added the playoff crown to their
league title and National Cup.
Steven Gayle finished with 13 for Magic, while Patrick Dwyer
added 12 and Duncan Ogilvie 11 and 14 rebounds.
Dan Carter led the Rockets with 20 points, 15 coming in the
first half, and Andy Harper hit 18 for Rockets, who also had
David Watts in double figures on 17.
Rich Wellings opened the scoring with a trey for Reading,
and Andy Harper did likewise as Rockets scored the opening
eight points of the game.
Danny Carter made it 9-0 with a single free-throw before picking
up an offensive foul and Patrick Dwyer finally got Manchester
off the mark with a three after 2:31 play.
Another Harper trey made it 13-7, and David Watts hit one
from two foul shots to put Rockets seven up at the midway
stage of the period.
A Stefan Gill trey for Manchester cut their deficit to 19-14
with three first period minutes remaining, but with Adam Kelly
hitting an ally-oop Reading went into the first break with
a 27-22 lead.
Taner Adu drained a three to cut that lead to four after 80
seconds of the second quarter, and Duncan Ogilvie halved Magic’s
deficit to two with a put-back.
Adu drove to the basket with 7:03 left and was fouled after
scoring, he converted the and-one to give Manchester their
first league of the game at 32-31.
Carter put Reading back in the lead, but an unsportsmanlike
foul saw Dwyer score both free-throws before Adu drained another
long range bomb giving Magic a 37-33 lead at the midway stage
of the quarter.
Watts levelled the score at 47 with 34 seconds left, before
Watts picked up his third foul, sending Patrick Dwyer to the
line and he sunk the first free-throw to send Manchester into
the locker room with a one point lead.
Ogilvie opened the second half scoring with a three-pointer,
a ahuge Gaye trey stretched their lead to 54-49, but a long
two from Wellings made it a one point game with 4:27 on the
clock.
A single Carter free-throw level things at the four minute
mark, with the teams locked at 58.
Scores from Gayle and Rankine saw Magic open a four point
gap before Andrew MacKay completed a 7-0 run with a three.
Rockets captain Adam Kelly replied with a put back before
Orlan Jackman completed the scoring for the third period with
a pair of free-throws for Manchester to send Magic into the
final break with a seven point lead.
The teams exchanged baskets in the opening two minutes of
the final stanza to leave Magic 76-69 ahead, but Watts shaved
a point off the advantage with a single free-throw before
Dan McKay converted a three-point play following Adu’s
foul.
A single Ogilvie free-throw gave Magic a 79-74 lead at the
midway stage of the final period, before Adu drained another
three.
Manchester led by nine with just over two minutes remaining,
but a Danny Carter basket cut the lead to seven, though he
missed the bonus.
Adu sunk two more from the charity strip to take his tally
to 25 before Harper answered with a score from downtown.
Jamal Hilliard missed a pair of free-throws for Magic, but
Dwyer was on hand to tip in the rebound to put them ten up
with 53 seconds remaining, before making it 91-80 from the
line to wrap up a historic treble..
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