Basketball
Great Basketball Weekend
21 January 2008
In an unbelievable night of BBL Trophy action there were numerous twists and turns before the Newcastle Eagles confirmed their spot in the semi-final, and the reigning champions, the Kularoos Plymouth Raiders, were dumped out of the competition. The SAMG Verve Scottish Rocks needed to beat the Eagles by 24 in order to progress themselves, and with 27 seconds remaining they were doing just that until former Rock Charles Smith, who left in contentious circumstances back in 2005, saw his team through with a pair of free-throws. Meanwhile, the BiG Storage Cheshire Jets, who won the BBL Trophy on four consecutive occasions between 2001-2004, kept their hopes of qualification alive as they beat the Raiders by 87-74
Jelson Homes DMU Leicester Riders 91 (18,35,57) (Woodyard 29, Wellington 10, Vear 10, Mills 10) BiG Storage Cheshire Jets 96 (26,51,80) (Myers 28, Obazuaye 23, Otten 13)
BiG Storage Cheshire Jets kept alive their hopes of reaching the last four of the BBL Trophy with a 91-96 victory at Jelson Homes DMU Leicester Riders. The victory was achieved at a cost though as Jets finished the match with just four men following the fouling out of Matt Otten and James Hamilton and an injury to Marc Pratt. Richard Murphy didn't travel due to illness and player/coach TJ Walker is still recovering from injury. Jets had to rely for the last four minutes of action on Gianni Costantiello, Shawn Myers, Alan Duppa and Jayson Obazuaye to see them through. Fortunately they led 72-90 at the time and were able to hold off a determined fightback by Leicester. Shawn Myers' 28-points paced the Jets as they led 18- 26, 35-51 and 57-80 at the end of the first three quarters. And they looked to be clear late in the match until the dramatic conclusion.
Kularoos Plymouth Raiders 70 (13,21,46) (Lasker 18, Martin 17, Moore 14) Marshall MK Lions 67 (20,38,46) (Brown 23, Y Williams 17, Griffin 7)
A fine comeback by Kularoos Plymouth Raiders against Marshall MK Lions ensured they keep one hand on the BBL Trophy heading into their final group match. Raiders trailed 13-20 at the end of the first quarter and had slipped even further behind at half time (21-38) before rediscovering their offence in the third quarter. A 10-5 run to end the third saw them tie the match at 46-46 before a tight final quarter saw Anthony Martin score the game's last three-points as Raiders edged home. Andrew Lasker led Plymouth's scoring with 18 while Terrell Brown's 23 for Lions was a game-high total.
Worcester Wolves 84 (33,54,74) (Life 29, Evans 22, Paez 11, Harker 11) Sheffield Sharks 81 (14,37,64) (Whyte 19, Niesler 14, Graham 12, Chaney 12)
Worcester Wolves booked their place in the BBL Trophy's last four with an 84-81 home win over Sheffield Sharks. Wolves raced out to an 8-0 lead at the start of the match and they kept themselves well in control with a 12-0 burst, including two threes by James Life, to close the first quarter 33-14 up. Sharks began the second the stronger of the two sides as a 7-0 tear cut the deficit to 33-21. However, a technical foul on coach Peter Scantlebury resulted in Life hitting both free throws and Chuck Evans a three on the possession to put Worcester well on top again at 38-21. By half time Worcester looked in control at 54-37 with Life scoring 25 of his game-high 29-points. After the interval Sheffield tightened their defence and gradually chipped away at the Wolves lead. New signings James Whyte and Nathan Niesler were again to the fore as they closed the third quarter trailing by 10 (74-64). Neither team managed to score in the first two minutes of the final stanza before Sharks got within striking distance of Wolves at 77-73 and 81-78. With Whyte fouled out an 83-80, James Life made one of two free throws to seal the win for Worcester.
Barkers (Tarring) Worthing Thunder 77 (20,32,56) (Woodthorpe 22, Marist 13, Brame 12) Poujoulat Heat Guildford 99 (23,44,68) (D Williams 20, Wardrope 20, Nottley 15)
Poujoulat Heat Guildford had already qualified for the last four of the BBL Trophy and they had little trouble in sweeping aside National League club Barkers (Tarring) Worthing Thunder 77-99 on the road. After a fairly tight first quarter which the Heat shaded 20-23 the visitors began to show their class in the second period to lead 32-44 at half time. After moving 56-68 clear at the end of the third Heat applied more pressure in the final stanza to win by 22- points. Guildford coach Paul James took the opportunity to rest several of his starters as Dan Wardrope and John Nottley took their opportunity with 20 and 15-points respectively.
Team Birmingham Panthers 79 (27,42,57,66) (L Williams 19, Paternostro 14, Sandell 13) PAWS London Capital 71 (17,28,44,66) (Perkins 19, Bradley 19, Ogedengbe 13)(after overtime)
Team Birmingham Panthers came out on top in the battle of the BBL basement with a thrilling 79-71 overtime victory against PAWS London Capital. The Panthers had looked like they were cruising to victory until Capital rallied during a frantic final quarter to force an extra period. Indeed the visitors could have won the match in regular time if Tayo Ogedengbe had hit either of his two free throws with four seconds remaining. Earlier Birmingham had raced out to leads of 27-17, 42-28 and 57-44 at the end of the first three quarters thanks to some excellent team play. However, a 20-6 run by Capital during the final stanza handed them their first meaningful lead of the match before Panthers tied the score at 66-66. In overtime a decisive 8-0 burst by Panthers closed out the match to leave Nigel Lloyd's team celebrating their first win since November 10 last year.
BiG Storage Cheshire Jets 87 (18,42,61) (Obazuaye 43, Myers 21, Costantiello 8) Kularoos Plymouth Raiders 74 (13,26,45) (Beasley 23, Lasker 16, Noel 10)
The BiG Storage Cheshire Jets, who won the BBL Trophy on four consecutive occasions between 2001-2004, threw group one wide open with an 87-74 defeat of the reigning champions, the Kularoos Plymouth Raiders, at the Northgate Arena. Jayson Obazuaye had an amazing night as his huge 43 points inspired the Jets to victory; Shawn Myers supported him with 21. DeAntoine Beasley led the Raiders with 23. The visitors held an early lead at 10-13 before Obazuaye turned in one of the best spells of individual play seen in the BBL. He sank the last eight points of the first quarter, followed by the first six for his team in the second stanza to propel the Jets into a 24-15 lead. Shortly afterwards the Raiders hit back with 7 straight points, but the hosts closed the first half with a 12-2 surge, including 6 for Obazuaye and 6 for Gianni Costantiello, to lead 42-26 as the Raiders' defence of the Trophy slipped away. Obazuaye had 16 second quarter points, and was on 26 in total by that point. Beasley opened the scoring in the third, on his way to 8 points in the period, but Obazuaye hit the next two baskets and the Raiders could not close the gap.
Plymouth pressed for the entirety of the final period, but 10 points from Drew Lasker and two three-pointers from Gavin Love were not enough despite their winning the stanza by 29-26. This group now goes down to the wire as the Marshall MK Lions and BiG Storage Cheshire Jets each face the Jelson Homes DMU Leicester Riders next week. A win for the Lions will see them through to the semi-finals regardless of what happens elsewhere courtesy of having the head-to-heads over both the Raiders and the Jets; if the Lions lose, and the Jets beat Leicester, then the Jets progress as group-winners courtesy of having taken the head-to-head over Plymouth.
The draw for the BBL Trophy semi-finals, taking place at Ponds Forge ISC on Saturday 2nd February, will be made on Monday.
SAMG Verve Scottish Rocks 100 (20,42,71) (Yanders 26, Davis 21, Hampton 17) Newcastle Eagles 78 (15,38,57) (Smith 17, Babalola 13, Flournoy 11)
The SAMG Verve Scottish Rocks beat the Newcastle Eagles by 100-78, but it was not enough for them to surpass their biggest rivals at the top of BBL Trophy Group Four as the Eagles won the head-to-head between the teams and confirmed their place in the semi-finals at Ponds Forge on Saturday 2nd February. The Eagles are looking to reach the final of this competition, which they won in 2006, for the third consecutive season. In order to overturn the Eagles, the Rocks had to tie or better the 24-point margin that the Eagles beat them by in the first game between these sides in this competition. In an agonising fourth quarter they came incredibly close to doing so in front of the biggest crowd of the season so far at the Braehead Arena. With 27 seconds remaining the Rocks were going through as they led 100-76, only for Charles Smith, who left the Rocks for their biggest rivals in contentious circumstances in 2005, kept his cool from the free-throw line to see his team progress. The Rocks had another chance to achieve that all-important 24-point win, only for Rob Yanders to turn the ball over on their final offence. It began to look as though qualification was a realistic prospect for the Rocks in the third stanza as they established a 71-51 lead, which came about after a 13-2 opening to the quarter, only for the Eagles to score the last 6 points of the period to reduce the threat. The Rocks then opened the fourth with the first 7 points and made a further 16-2 push late on to give them that lead of 100-76. Earlier in the game the teams had traded 10-0 bursts, and there were 4 lead changes in the second quarter before a Sterling Davis three-pointer capped an 11-4 close to the first half that saw the Rocks lead 43-38 before the amazing second half to the game. Yanders led the scoring with 26 points on the night. Smith led the Eagles with 17. The Eagles will now wait with anticipation for tomorrow's semi-final draw.
BBL Trophy
Group 1
No. Team P W L Pts
1 Kularoos Plymouth Raiders 6 4 2 8
2 Marshall MK Lions 5 3 2 6
3 BiG Storage Cheshire Jets 5 3 2 6
4 Jelson Homes DMU Leicester Riders 4 0 4 0
Group 2
1 Poujoulat Heat Guildford 4 4 0 8
2 PAWS London Capital 3 1 2 2
3 Worthing Thunder 3 0 3 0
Group 3
1 Worcester Wolves 3 3 0 4
2 Sheffield Sharks 4 2 2 4
3 Team Birmingham Panthers 3 0 3 0
Group 4
No. Team P W L Pts
1 Newcastle Eagles 4 3 1 6
2 SAMG Verve Scottish Rocks 4 3 1 6
3 Everton Tigers 4 0 4 0
National table
1 Newcastle Eagles 16 13 3 26
2 Marshall MK Lions 17 12 5 24
3 Poujoulat Heat Guildford 14 11 3 22
4 Kularoos Plymouth Raiders 16 10 6 20
5 SAMG Verve Scottish Rocks 15 9 6 18
6 Everton Tigers 16 8 8 16
7 Sheffield Sharks 17 8 9 16
8 Jelson Homes DMU Leicester Riders 19 7 12 14
9 BiG Storage Cheshire Jets 16 6 10 12
10 Worcester Wolves 18 6 12 12
11 PAWS London Capital 17 5 12 10
12 Birmingham Panthers 15 3 12 6
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