SUNDAY 23 MARCH 2008
BBL Championship
23 March 2008
Guildford Heat 86 (26,44,72) (Harrison 21, Martin
21, Gilbert 19, Dorsey 19)
Newcastle Eagles 79 (16,40,64) (Stewart 21,
Bridge 12, Flournoy 12, Leven 12)
Guildford Heat kept alive the possibility of retaining the
BBL title with an excellent 86-79 win over league leaders
Newcastle Eagles at the Spectrum.
Heat still need to rely on other teams defeating the Eagles,
but could do more than beating their rivals when given the
opportunity.
After conceding the first points of the match Heat stunned
their visitors with a 24-8 run to assume control. A Daniel
Gilbert three began the burst and Gilbert followed with a
further six points as Heat dominated. Newcastle hit back with
a 6-0 run of their own to trail 26-10 at the end of the first
quarter.
Heat extended their lead with a 6-3 start to the second quarter
before Newcastle began to show why they hold an eight point
advantage at the top of the BBL. A 13-4 run tied the match
at 40-40. Guildford scored the final four points of the half
to lead 44-40 at the interval.
Newcastle again tied the match at 44-44 and briefly took
the lead (48-49) before runs of 5-0 and 12-4, with six points
from Michael Martin, by the Heat broke the match open 70-59.
A Jeremy Hyatt three sparked a 5-2 close to the half by Newcastle
to close the gap to 72- 64 with ten minutes remaining.
The Eagles continued to eat into the Heat lead in the final
stanza. Runs of 8-2 and 5-2 put them within four (83-79) with
57 seconds on the clock before Michael Martin calmed home
nerves with a two. James Jones split two free throws with
23 seconds left to complete the scoring.
23 March 2008
BiG Storage Cheshire Jets 77 (22,37,54) (Obazuaye
24, Moore 20, Otten 15)
Everton Tigers 86 (13,28,58) (Robertson 25,
Davis 17, Midgley 16)
Everton Tigers took a huge step to locking up a play- off
position with a well-deserved 77-86 road win at north west
rivals Cheshire Jets. However, the defeat leaves the Jets
with lots of work to do if they are to crack the top eight
in the BBL.
Jets controlled the first half of the match. A 22-13 first
quarter lead was sparked by Matt Otten who took the score
from 10-10 to 16-10 with six points on three possessions.
By half time no side had made any more inroads as Jets led
37-28.
Tigers were a different team in the third quarter. After
levelling the match at 48-48 on a Richard Midgley three a
David Aliu three gave them the lead for good at 53-50.
Tony Robertson then took over in the fourth with 11 points
to keep the Jets at arm's length throughout.
BBL CHAMPIONSHIP TABLE
No Team P W L Pts
1 Newcastle Eagles 28 24 4 48
2 Kularoos Plymouth Raiders 28 20 8 40
3 Guildford Heat 26 19 7 38
4 Marshall MK Lions 26 17 9 34
5 SAMG Verve Scottish Rocks 27 16 11 32
6 Everton Tigers 26 13 13 26
7 Sheffield Sharks 27 12 15 24
8 Worcester Wolves 27 12 15 24
9 BiG Storage Cheshire Jets 27 9 18 18
10 Jelson Homes DMU Leicester Riders 28 8 20 16
11 PAWS London Capital 28 7 21 14
12 Birmingham Panthers 26 5 21 10
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