BBL Championship
Newcastle Eagles 82 (20,43,62) (Stewart 18, Defoe/Babalola
15)
Marshall MK Lions 68 (25,39,55) (Williams 18, Youngblood 14,
Jamison 9)
Newcastle Eagles moved another step closer to securing the
BBL Championship League title after an 82-68 victory over
the Marshall MK Lions at the MetroRadio Arena on Friday evening.
It was the Lions who started the stronger and took an early
14-20 lead midway through the opening period, but the Eagles
came back into the game in the second quarter thanks to an
11-2 burst to take them into a two-point lead at 34-32. A
further 5-0 burst to close out the first half took them into
the locker rooms with a 43-39 advantage. The second half saw
both sides trading baskets throughout the third period, and
it was the Eagles who continued to maintain the ascendency,
and lead 62-55 going into the final stanza. The final quarter
saw the home side take control of the game for good with a
12-2 burst midway through the period to take the score out
to 80-64, and the home side held on for the all-important
victory. Lynard Stewart top- scored for the Eagles with 18
points, while Yorrick Williams was the leading light for the
Lions as he also bagged 18 points for the visitors.
BBL Championship
Kularoos Plymouth Raiders 90 (16,40,58) (Lasker 30, Beasley
15, Gall 14)
BiG Storage Cheshire Jets 75 (25,43,54) (Moore 23, Obazuaye
16, Otten 15)
Kularoos Plymouth Raiders kept their play-off chase on track
thanks to a 90-75 victory over the BiG Storage Cheshire Jets
at the Plymouth Pavilions on Friday evening. The Jets started
the stronger, and took an early 16-25 lead off the back of
a 17-12 burst to close out the first period. The Raiders began
to chip away at the Jets' lead, and got themselves back to
within three-points at 40-43 at the half. The second half
saw the home side begin to stamp their authority on the game,
and a 12-9 run to close out the third period gave the Raiders
a 58-54 lead going into the final stanza. In the final quarter,
both sides traded baskets in the early goings, but the Raiders
broke the game open with a 12-6 burst midway through the period
to take the score out to 88-69. The Jets tried valiantly to
get themselves back into the game, but to no avail as the
Raiders ran out eventual victors. Andrew Lasker led all scorers
in the game with 30 points for the Raiders, while Trey Moore
led the Jets scoring with 23.
BBL Championship
Sheffield Sharks 104 (32,46,78) (Virgil 24, Graham 18, Lyons/Niesler
13)
Everton Tigers 81 (14,33,58) (Aliu 21, Davis 16, Robertson
14)
Sheffield Sharks not only picked up a 104-81 victory over
the Everton Tigers at the EIS, Sheffield on Friday night,
but they also secured the head-to-head series over their opponents
in the race for the all-important play-off positions. The
Sharks started the stronger in the early exchanges, and some
outstanding three- point shooting (6 from 7 in the first period)
took them out to a 32-14 lead at the end of the opening quarter.
The Tigers got themselves back into the game with an 8-2 burst
midway through the second period to get the score back to
44-29, but the Sharks held on to lead 46-33 going in at the
half. The second half saw the Tigers continue to trim the
deficit back, and a 9-5 start to the third quarter bought
the score back to 51- 42. The Sharks broke the game open with
an immediate 12-1 response to take the score out to 63- 43.
The home side maintained a twenty-point lead going into the
final stanza at 78-58, and extended it to twenty-five points
at 104-79 in the closing stages to seal the comfortable victory.
Alto Virgil led all scorers in the game with 24 points for
the Sharks, while David Aliu led the Tigers scoring with 21.
BBL CHAMPIONSHIP TABLE
No Team P W L Pts
1 Newcastle Eagles 29 25 4 50
2 Kularoos Plymouth Raiders 29 21 7 42
3 Poujoulat Heat Guildford 26 19 7 38
4 Marshall MK Lions 28 18 10 36
5 SAMG Verve Scottish Rocks 28 16 12 32
6 Everton Tigers 27 13 14 26
7 Sheffield Sharks 28 13 15 26
8 Worcester Wolves 27 12 15 24
9 BiG Storage Cheshire Jets 28 9 19 18
10Jelson Homes DMU Leicester Riders 28 8 20 16
11PAWS London Capital 28 7 21 14
12Team Birmingham Panthers 26 5 21 10
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