PJ Close to Conceding League Title
Coming off the back of a big win over the Newcastle Eagles,
and with another important weekend ahead, Guildford Heat Head
Coach, Paul James, still believes that their north-east rivals
are the favourites for the BBL title.
Despite seeing his side snap the Eagles' twelve- game winning
run, he concedes that Fab Flournoy's team will likely finish
top, but wants to keep the BBL Championship trophy in his
club's cabinet for as long as possible,
"We want to try to hold on to the league trophy for
as long as possible, all we can do is beat them and see if
anyone else can," said James, who will see the Eagles
once more at The Spectrum in the regular season.
"I'm not sure that the teams that they've got left to
play are capable of beating them.
"It's disappointing that we have the head-to-head on
Newcastle and Plymouth, and we've swept Milton Keynes, but
we've thrown it away with losses against Sheffield, Raiders
and Everton early in the season.
"If Newcastle win it, they deserve it, they've beaten
the teams they should have."
After conceding the first points of Sunday's match, Heat
stunned the visiting Eagles with a 24-8 run to assume control,
and with EJ Harrison and Mike Martin each scoring 21, they
never looked back.
James enjoyed the game, and thought both teams played their
part in an entertaining encounter,
"It was a very good win, and that's the best we've played
at home in the BBL this season. We had two good teams going
at it for 40 minutes, and it was a very good game of basketball.
It was well refereed, we didn't notice them which is always
a good sign."
The two sides are due to meet again at The Spectrum on Sunday
April 6. Newcastle need only two wins from their remaining
games to wrap up the title. Heat return to action on Sunday
with a trip to BiG Storage Cheshire Jets, while Eagles host
fourth placed Marshall MK Lions on Friday night.
A strong third period proved to be key when Heat traveled
to Cheshire in October as Guildford won 98- 89. Danny Gilbert
led all scorers in the game with 26 points for the Heat, including
16 points in the final quarter alone, while Shawn Myers led
the Jets scoring with 25. The return at The Spectrum proved
to be more one-sided as Guildford turned up the heat in the
second half to win 111-91.
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