SHEFFIELD SHARKS DEFEAT NEWCASTLE EAGLES

The Sheffield Sharks extended their lead at the top of the BBL Championship after beating second placed Newcastle Eagles 89-93 in the north east.

The Sharks were the dominant side throughout but allowed an 18-point second quarter lead to slip through their fingers before turning round a six-point deficit themselves to finally see off the reigning champions.

A 9-0 fourth quarter run by Sheffield gave the visitors the lead at 67-70. Eagles tied it at 70-70 and led for the last time at 78-77. From there it was all Sharks as a Todd Cauthorn three began a 10-2 run that gave Sheffield enough of a margin to take a priceless victory.

Two clubs are through to the last four of the BBL Cup after victories for Marshall MK Lions and DMU Leicester Riders. The Riders are celebrating their first visit to the BBL Cup last four after a late burst saw them past Worcester Wolves.

The Riders trailed by 18 in the third quarter but recovered to post a 13-0 run late in the final stanza, which broke the back of Worcester's resistance. Brad Wierzbicki was the hero for Leicester with 38 points, including the go-ahead three-point play.

Marshall MK Lions secured an excellent away win with 14 points in the fourth quarter from EJ Harrison to hold off Airwaves Plymouth Raiders 95-101 and move into the semi-finals of the BBL Cup.

In a game that either side at some stage looked to have taken control of it was the Lions who had a decisive 17-4 run in the final stanza to open up a 91- 97 lead. Three free throws from Michael New and one from Harrison sealed the win.

PLYMOUTH RAIDERS	95 - 101	MILTON KEYNES
LEICESTER RIDERS	96 - 87	WORCESTER WOLVES
NEWCASTLE EAGLES	89 - 93	SHEFFIELD SHARKS

TIGERS & SHARKS WIN WITH EASE SHARKS BACK ON TOP

Friday night saw key results for the Sheffield Sharks, who bounced back from a 98-89 double overtime loss against the Marshall MK Lions last week, and the Everton Tigers, who sealed the head to head win record over the Guildford Heat with an 84-72 win at home. This win sees the Sharks return to the top of the BBL table with a record of 7 and 3.

Crucial to the Sharks victory tonight was their run in the third quarter, racing from a 52-42 advantage at half time to be up 83-52, a devastating ten minutes where player-coach Atiba Lyons' decision to put out a smaller line up proved to be the right one.

Despite the Jets bringing it back to 86-70 with a whole six minutes left in the game, the Sharks outscoring them 31-10 in the third proved too much for Paul Smith's side, as they were never quite able to recover once the Sharks put their starters back on in the fourth quarter.

Sheffield were led once again by Mike Cook with 32 points, fellow American Ryan Patton shot the lights out for his 20 points, and Tafari Toney rounded out the top three scorers for the Sharks with 17 points.

The Jets were led by an impressive performance from rookie point guard Paul Peterson (24 points), Colin O'Reilly had 22 along with 11 rebounds, and Frank Phifer bagged 11 points in a night that Cheshire will want to forget.

In the night's other game which was delayed because of the late arrival of the Guildford Heat, The Everton Tigers got off to a great start, keeping their opponents scoreless for the first four minutes, whilst scoring ten points themselves to lead 10-0.

Chad McKnight got his team off the mark with an easy bucket inside, and the Heat began to claw their way into the Tigers' ten point lead, only for the Tigers to continue to dominate and go 19-9 up with just under two minutes left. They then outscored their opponents 8-3 to close out the quarter 27-12 to the better.

The second stanza was a similar story, as the Tigers went on a 9-0 run to start with. The Heat then cut the gap to twenty points thanks to three charity shots from 'LA' Aaron Drakeford. The gap remained between 20 and 25 points for the rest of the quarter, and the half time score read 52-32 in the Sharks favour.

The Heat being outscored 21-16 by the Tigers proved to be influential in the context of the game, as they ended the third quarter 73-48 up, with a huge mountain to climb in the fourth for the Heat, if they were to win the game. Once the gap reached 30 points at 80-50, it was always going to be a struggle. The Heat scored the next nine points in the ball game and subsequently completed a 13-2 run to finish the match, but the Tigers were already home and dry with an 84-72 win the end result.

They were led by Jerome Gumbs, who had an impressive outing with 27 points to his name, Olu Babalola stepped up with 23 points and young Brit Andrew Thomson had 12. The Heat were led in vain by Julius Joseph, who had 24 points.

TIGERS & HEAT MEET IN HEAD TO HEAD DECIDER

As the Everton Tigers and the Guildford Heat meet at the Greenbank Sports Academy tonight, the head to head record between these teams in the Championship is already at stake. Tigers boss Tony Garbelotto had praise for the work of new Heat player / coach Chad McKnight, and feels that his side will be better prepared at home to take on the Heat.

The Tigers avenged the 82-74 loss against the Heat earlier this season, which put them into third spot, with an 85-79 win on 11th October at Liverpool's Echo Arena. The Heat hold the all-time record at 5-4, and Garbelotto said the following on this important game: 'I am so impressed by what Chad has done with this group of players. In the last game at their place they just had more will and desire to win down the stretch, but I expect another tough game against them.'

The Team GB Assistant Coach also stressed the fact that the game is a must-win for his side. He added: 'It is a must win game for us, as crazy as this sounds, as we will have the season head to head win count against them if we win tomorrow. At present, we seem to be more controlled at home than on the road and I hope that this will continue on Friday.'

SHARKS AND JETS READY TO GO AGAIN

Friday’s BBL Championship game between the Sheffield Sharks and the Cheshire Jets could well be another bruising encounter. The Sharks hold the head to head in home games by 26 to 15, as well as beating the Jets in 22 games away from home, of which there have been 34 in BBL history.

The teams have already met this season, a 79-62 Sharks victory being the result. The last time the Jets beat the Sharks was back in November 2008, with an 86-82 win at the Northgate Arena, the Jets’ home court.

The Jets are coached by former player Paul Smith who, believes that this weekend’s games against Sheffield Sharks on Friday and Newcastle Eagles on Sunday, will be testing for his side. He said, ‘both Sheffield and Newcastle represent big challenges for us. They both play great defence and good team basketball. It’s a big weekend for us.’

Whilst some coaches place importance on certain games, Smith was quick to point out that this stage of the season is just as important as any other: ‘All results are important’ he added: ‘Every win counts - titles and play off spots are won and lost just as much at this stage of the season as any other.’

Sheffield player-coach Atiba Lyons had to endure the disappointment of losing 98-89 to the Marshall MK Lions last weekends double overtime spectacular, and the 27 year old was frustrated as he felt that the game was taken out of his team’s hands.

He explained: ‘: I feel we played a solid game. I think we had the game in two different instances but due to circumstances beyond my teams control we were unable to close the game out. Games should be decided by coaching and the playing staff and I feel we were not given that opportunity.’

Lyons also moved to restore his side’s confidence in themselves for the Jets fixture, following last weekend’s defeat, as he claimed that it is ‘far too early in the season to hang your head’. The 6’6’’ Forward, who came to Sheffield purely as a player in 2006, added the following on his side’s crucial mentality in the lead up to the Jets game: It would have been a great win last weekend but unfortunately we didn't pull it out. We just have to brush ourselves off. It's far too early in the season to hang your head, especially when the loss was against a talented team like the Lions.’

RAIDERS SHOCK LEAGUE LEADING EAGLES

In a busy night of BBL action the headlines go to Airwaves Plymouth Raiders who shocked league leaders Newcastle Eagles to secure their first win of the 9/10 season with a thrilling 96-95 overtime home victory.

After Florentino Valencia had made two free throws to force overtime, the match was undecided until an Anthony Martin bucket with 50 seconds remaining in the extra period gave Raiders the lead for good.

Guildford Heat moved themselves into the leading pack after a hard-fought 78-71 win over Worthing Thunder.

Thunder recovered from a 15-point fourth quarter deficit to trail by just one (64-63) in the last three minutes but Heat's Julius Joseph and Kenny Langhorne both drained threes to move their team away once again.

Worcester Wolves held off a late charge to eventually beat Jelson Homes DMU Leicester Riders 113-111 on their home floor.

The Wolves had led by 14 (106-92) with just 3.54 remaining but a furious finish by Riders, which included three Tack Minor three-pointers, saw them close to one before a Chey Christie free throw sealed the win. Minor had the final chance to tie or win but his last gasp shot was blocked.

Glasgow Rocks made the most of a slow starting London Capital side to win 83-65 and move into seventh place in the BBL. With the match tipping off over half an hour late due to the visitors travel problems the Rocks were red-hot from the start as they scored the first 16 points of the night.

Rob Yanders drilled three three-pointers and there were contributions from Mike Copeland, Jessie Sapp, Steve Parillon, Sterling Davis and Gareth Murray as Rocks led 23-3 after the first quarter and were never troubled. 

RIDERS DESTROY HIGH FLYING HEAT

There was a lot of movement among the top teams in the BBL Championship on Saturday night as the Marshall MK Lions jumped into second spot, and the Cheshire Jets and Jelson Homes DMU Leicester Riders moved into fourth and fifth respectively.

The Leicester Riders beat the Guildford Heat 95-77 after outscoring their opponents 60-27 in an amazing second half.

Tack Minor had a double-double of 26 points and 14 assists and Jason Johnson had one of his own with 26 points and 12 rebounds. The Riders had trailed by 15 at the halfway points but there was a 22 point swing in the third quarter and they never looked back.

The Lions made it two wins in consecutive nights, and six in a row overall, as they battled to a 57-62 win at the Essex Pirates. The Lions failed to score in the first seven minutes of the second quarter, and fell behind at 27-22.

However, they recovered before half time and regained the lead in the third. The teams were tied at 56 entering the last two minutes, but Dawud Morris kept his cool at the free-throw line to give the Lions a lead that they wouldn't relinquish. Walid Mumuni missed a three-pointer that would have tied the game with 4 seconds remaining.

Meanwhile, the Cheshire Jets made it four wins in a row in all competitions to keep themselves in amongst it at the top of the table as they beat the Worthing Thunder 74-98 on the South Coast.

The Thunder have now lost five of their last six games. Chez Marks scored 20 points for the Jets, including 15 in the first half, as they led from tip to buzzer.

LIONS DEFEAT SHARKS IN ANOTHER BBL CLASSIC

Marshall MK Lions 98 (22,39,55,75,83) (Harrison 23, Morris 23, Holmes/Spinks 13)
Sheffield Sharks 89 (16,46,57,75,83) (Cook 27, Patton 24, Lawson 10)
DOUBLE OVERTIME

The Marshall MK Lions beat the Sheffield Sharks by 98-89 in a double overtime game between two of the BBL's form sides on Friday night. It was the second game in a row between these teams that has gone to overtime, after the Sharks beat the Lions 83-80 in an extra period at the end of last season. It's only the ninth time that the Lions have beaten the Sharks in 48 meetings between these teams in the BBL Championship.

After the game, Head Coach Vince Macaulay said, "It was a terrific game, the Sharks really came to play but I'm proud of how we played. We had 30 turnovers but were still able to come through; we also had 63 rebounds and that just shows the effort that the guys put in."

The Lions were led by 23 points each from EJ Harrison and Dawud Morris, while Frank Holmes took his fair share of those rebounds with a double-double of 13 points and 16 boards. The Sharks were led by Mike Cook's 27 points.

After a tight game throughout, the Lions took the lead early in the fourth, having trailed 55-57 at the end of three, as Yorick Williams hit a three-pointer to make it 64-63. However, the Sharks took the lead back as Harrison was called for an unsportsmanlike foul on Perry Lawson, whose trip to the line gave them a 64- 66 lead, and the Sharks still led heading into the last minute. The Lions missed a trio of three-pointers before captain Dru Spinks snatched a rebound and putback to get them within one at 72-73 with 45 seconds left. The teams traded free-throws before Atiba Lyons fouled out and gave the Lions the ball back with 12 seconds remaining. Morris missed the shot only to get his own rebound and put it in with 3 seconds remaining to force overtime as the Sharks failed to get a shot off.

The teams traded runs in the first overtime period as Ryan Patton started it with a three-pointer and the Sharks scored the first five points. But the Lions came back with the next seven points and regained the lead at 82-80 on a Morris score. The Lions led 82-81 within the final minute when Toney emphatically dunked for the Sharks to give them the edge at 82-83. The Lions had the ball with 20 seconds left, facing a similar situation to that at the end of regulation, and Frank Holmes was sent to the line, where he made 1 of 2 for double overtime.

Patton and Mike New exchanged baskets early in the second overtime period as they each scored 5 points to see the teams tied once more at 88. The Lions eventually managed to decide the game in the final two minutes with a 7-1 run, capped by a Morris score, to lead 95-89 within the last minute, from where there was no way back for the Sharks. It was the Lions fifth consecutive win in all competitions.

REFEREEING MASTERCLASS pts 1 & 2

From the beginning of an official’s career, it is constantly stated that when 10 players are moving at speed within the parameters of a basketball court, CONTACT IS INEVITABLE, but not all contact is illegal. Determining what is legal and illegal contact is part of the official’s development and knowledge building process. The ability to recognise and judge the consequences of contact further determines which officials will progress to higher levels.

FORMER TOP REFEREE ALAN RICHARDSON IS HOSTING A
REFEREE MASTERCLASS ON
mikeshaft.com

READ pt 1 HERE

READ pt 2 HERE

STILL NECK AND NECK AT THE TOP OF THE BBL

In an exciting night of action in the British Basketball League, the final berth in the BBL Cup was decided and there were victories for the top two sides in the BBL Championship as well.

Cheshire Jets secured the last quarter-final berth in the BBL Cup thanks to a 73-78 victory over the Glasgow Rocks at Kelvin Hall on Sunday evening. The Rocks had got themselves ahead at 55-51 going into the final stanza, but Chez Marks sparked a 9-2 Jets burst midway through the final period to give them the lead at 62-69. A Rob Yanders three-pointer got the home side back to within three points at 73-76 but Colin O'Reilly held his nerve from the foul-line to give the Jets the victory.

In BBL Championship action, the Newcastle Eagles, Sheffield Sharks and Worthing Thunder all picked up victories over the Essex Pirates, Airwaves Plymouth Raiders and PAWS London Capital respectively.

Newcastle had to work hard for their victory over the Pirates but eventually ran out comfortable 99-72 victors at the Metro Radio Arena on Sunday afternoon.

The Pirates got themselves back into the game and reduced the deficit to just four points at 50-46 early in the second half, but the home side broke the game open with a 17-1 run to take the score out to 67-47. Newcastle continued to extend their lead through the remainder of the game and ran out comfortable winners.

The victory for the Eagles kept them on top of the BBL Championship table, but the Sheffield Sharks remained level on points with them after they secured a 55-67 come-from-behind victory over the Plymouth Raiders at the Plymouth Pavilions. A Perry Lawson free-throw sparked a 14-0 burst for the Sharks to break the game open and give the visitors the lead at 41-52.

A 8-2 burst from the home side at the start of the final stanza bought them back into the game at 49-54, but Mike Cook netted the last nine points for the Sharks to give them the victory.

Worthing Thunder also picked up a victory on Sunday by defeating London Capital 50-62 at the Capital City Academy. The victory moved the South Coast outfit up into seventh position in the Championship table. After falling behind 17-3 after the first period, the Thunder came back and hit a 19-0 run at the start of the second period to take a 17-20 lead

WORCESTER WOLVES SECURE FIRST WIN

Saturday 24th October 2009
Guildford Heat 82-74 Everton Tigers
Airwaves Plymouth Raiders 80-102 Marshall MK Lions
Worcester Wolves 98-80 PAWS London Capital
Worthing Thunder 101 - 106 Jelson Homes DMU Leicester Riders

Chuck Evans' Worcester Wolves got their first win in the BBL Championship, as they decisively beat PAWS London Capital at home 98-80. Lithuanian duo Evaldas Zabas and Vidmantas Uzkuraitis led the scoring for both teams with 25 and 24 points respectively, whilst Harry Disy had 19 for the home side. Capital were led by Ibrahim Gariba (20), Santa Ataha (16) and Giedrius Knysas (14).

The Wolves got off to a spellbinding start, thanks to baskets from Kenny Saunders, Uzkuraitis, and three points from Zabas, to put them 10-0 up. With 8:36 gone on the game clock, the Capital's first points on the board came from Dian Ivanov, with a three pointer. He made 3/3 from behind the arc on a great shooting night, but after his first triple, Capital were slow building up their momentum, as a 25-8 advantage soon turned to 35-17 at the end of the first. The second stanza saw an improved performance from London, as they outscored Worcester 23-18, but the combination of a poor scoring start, and a 45-40 Wolves dominated second half, proved too much for London Capital.

Evans applauded his players effort this evening, but demanded an improvement offensively from his side: 'We played with lots of energy and effort, particularly defensively tonight, but our margin of victory would have been more had we been better offensively' he said. 'Having said that, London have some good players, it was our first win in the BBL this year, and the Lithuanian connection of Vidmantas (Uzkuraitis) and Evaldas (Zabas) were outstanding, both in our loss last night, and in a victory tonight.'

Meanwhile, Airwaves Plymouth Raiders' search for their first win in league action goes on, as they went down 102-80 to the Marshall MK Lions tonight at home. Lions head coach was clearly positive after the win. He commented: 'I'm delighted with the win tonight. Plymouth is always a tough place to play, and they competed hard. They are a team who will do better once they get key guys in, such as James Noel coming back from injury and Anthony Martin rejoining them in a different system. What pleased me the most tonight was our rebounding effort. Dawud Morris and Frank Holmes had 22 boards between them, and they were crucial for us tonight.

After being challenged by their coach to bounce back this weekend, the Jelson Homes DMU Leicester Riders responded in apt fashion with a 106-101 victory on the South Coast against Worthing Thunder, who were without imports Reggie Bratton and Sherrad Prezzie Blue, through injury. The Riders were led by American Point Guard Tack Minor, who put up a massive 36 points and 10 assists.

Finally, the Guildford Heat secured an encouraging win tonight as they beat the Everton Tigers 82-74. Player-coach Chad McKnight led by example as led all scorers with 20 points personal, whilst Kevin Bell led the scoring for the Tigers with 15 points.

The first quarter was very much dominated by Everton, as they took at early 5-10 advantage thanks to a field goal from Olu Babalola. This put them in a strong position, but the quarter finished with the sides being in equal in scoring 10-10, to leave the score at 15-20.The second stanza saw the visitors stretch their lead out to nine points, 24-15, before McKnight, Kenny Langhorne, 'LA' Aaron Drakeford and Julius Joseph all chipped in to put their side on a 9-0 run, which bought the scores level at 24 each. The scores were tied again another three times in the quarter, but two free throws and an open court score from Babalola, as well as a free shot from Bell, ensured the Tigers led at half time 34-31.

Quarter number three saw the Heat wake up, as they took their first lead with 5:20 remaining at 46-45. They then stretched this lead out to five points, 55-50, about two minutes later, and from that point until the close of the third, they remained about five or six points in front. The Tigers refused to give however in the closing minutes of the penultimate quarter, and battled back to bring it to 61-59 with 2:03 left in the third, and neither side scored in the final two minutes.

The fourth quarter almost saw a reverse of the first, as the Heat outscored their opponents 21-15, and McKnight was pleased at his side continuing their fine run of form: 'Tonight was another good win' he said. 'We lost at the Tigers two weeks ago in the last two minutes, so we were keen to come out strong and have a good first quarter. At half time though, I had to tell the guys to control the game, which they did, and this is what led to a good team win.

JUST A LINE ON TURKISH BASKETBALL LEAGUE

Former BBL star Andre Smith has got off to a flying start in the Turkish Basketball League as he hit a game high 25 points for Pinar Karsiyaka. In game 1 against Bornova Belediye, Karsiyaka ran out easy winners 89-68 and now have a record of 1 and 1 which sees them in 3rd place in the TBL.

Andre also pulled down 8 rebounds and according to the stats after Game Day 1, he now has a efficiency rating of 27 which sees him at number 1 in the TBL.

In game 2 they went down by 2 points (87-85) on the road to Oyak Renault.

EAGLES DEFEAT SHARKS IN TOP OF TABLE CLASH

The sides were trading basket for basket in the first quarter of this eagerly anticipated encounter, as the Sharks led 16-13, before a 7-2 run from the Eagles took the score to 18-20 to close out the opening period. Although the Sharks were carrying injuries to Todd Cauthorn, Matt Gorman, Ryan Patton and Mike Cook, the match looked as if it may go down to the wire, as Cook looked good for the Sharks once again, and Lynard Stewart was on fire for the Eagles.

The second period saw several lead changes, as the Sharks raced to a 27-22 lead, only for the Eagles to fly back at them to take it 27-29 and then 31-29. The Tyneside franchise then scored the rest of the points that quarter in a run which took them to a commanding 31-42 lead at half time.

The third period saw the Eagles extend their lead to 55-40, but the Sharks managed to chip away to bring it back to 46-57, only for the Eagles to bag four more points to stretch the lead to 46-61 in their favour. This was the most the Eagles led for in this quarter, as the Sharks went on an 8-2 charge to get themselves to within 10 points of their opponents, at 54-63 at the end of the third.

The final stanza then saw a late 12-3 run which sealed the game for the visitors. They were led by a dominant performance from Charles Smith with 23 points, but Mike Cook continued to dominate in this league, as he racked up 29 points to lead all scorers in the game.

Sharks player-coach Atiba Lyons was disappointed with the result, but feels that his side can definitely take some positives from the game. He said: 'I was disappointed with tonight's result, but what impressed me was that the guys kept their heads down and kept fighting. They didn't give up, and fought back well, which is a good sign.'

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th
SHEFFIELD SHARKS	18	31	54	74
NEWCASTLE EAGLES	20	42	63	84

LYNARD STEWART WEARS HIS NEW
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