BRITISH BASKETBALL LEGEND WRITES

ONE OF THE GREATEST AND MOST FLAMBOYANT PLAYERS IN
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HIS NAME IS BOBBY 'SPECIAL K' KINZER

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GUILDFORD HEAT BACK IN TROPHY FINAL

Guildford Heat 90 (18,43,68) (Harrison 22, Howell 20, Martin 20)
Airwaves Plymouth Raiders 85 (16,44,66) (Moore 18, Noel 17, Robinson 14)
Aggregate Score - Guildford 187 Plymouth 161

Guildford Heat booked their place in next month's BBL Trophy final with a 90-85 home victory against Airwaves Plymouth Raiders.

The result gave them a 187-161 aggregate win over Plymouth and ensures they will meet either Everton Tigers or Newcastle Eagles on their own Guildford Spectrum court on Sunday, March 15.

With a 19-point lead to defend from the first leg in Devon, Heat had to keep Raiders within touching distance and they led for the majority of the first quarter, eventually taking it 18-16.

Plymouth rallied in the second period to take a seven point lead at 33-40 but Guildford quickly replied through 'The smooth as silk' Keonta Howell, EJ Harrison and a three from Daniel Sandell to trail by just one at half time (43- 44).

Neither side could put much of a run together in the third quarter with both holding four point leads during the period. With ten minutes remaining Heat had the tie all but won at 68-66.

Guildford continued to press in the final stanza and they eventually edged ahead to take the match 90-85.

This victory gives the Heat the opportunity to retain the BBL Trophy which they won last season.

Guildford will find out their Trophy Final opponents on Friday evening when the Newcastle Eagles take on the Everton Tigers in the second leg of their semi final. Eagles have a 6 point lead after the first leg finished 88-82.

BBL Trophy Final
Sunday 15th March 2009 @ Guildford Spectrum

MORE ON THE BBL TROPHY HERE

SHAKESPEAR SAID IT BEST, MUCH ADO ...

2009 BBL TROPHY
Everton Tigers 82 (16,39,65) (Smith 25, Bailey 19, Midgley 11)
Newcastle Eagles 88 (23,47,66) (Moore 20, Jackson 20, Bridge 20)

Newcastle Eagles will take a six point advantage into the second leg of their BBL Trophy semi-final against Everton Tigers on Friday after beating the Merseyside club 82-88 on the road at Greenbank last night.

FULL REPORT HERE

TIGERS AND EAGLES READY TO GO AGAIN

Everton Tigers and Newcastle Eagles face each other in a semi-final for the third time this season tonight as a place in the BBL Trophy final awaits the winners.

Tuesday's first leg is followed by the return on Friday, with the winner qualifying for the final at Guildford Spectrum on March 15, and Tigers will be looking to repeat the aggregate victory they recorded over Eagles on their way to winning the BBL Cup.

Tigers' coach Tony Garebelotto is excited about facing his former club again: "To be honest, for my team and myself we are desperate to play this game. We playing as poorly as have done all season, and we're just not focused enough. "

He continued, "We need a good result on Tuesday, but as I said before the BBL Cup semi-final, we can't win the tie in the first leg but we can lose it. I hope we can have a good game in front of a big crowd, but we need to come out with the advantage at the end of the night."

"They're one of the best teams in the country, and as I've said before they have championship credentials and a tremendous motivational force in Fab. But they are also physically superior to the rest of the league due the strength and conditioning work that they do. They are able to crush teams defensively and on the boards. It's a massive challenge, and we're looking forward to it."

Everton won 111-100 at Worthing Thunder on Saturday, but the Tigers coach was far from happy with his team's performance: "We played poorly at Worthing. The bus broke down at Pease Pottage, and although the bus company did a good job of getting there, we weren't well prepared. I'm not taking anything away from Worthing, they've got a great organization there and they played well, but we were very very poor."

Having seen his team lose 202-198 on aggregate against Tigers in the Cup, Eagles player-coach Fab Flournoy is aware of the size of the task ahead for his team: "Obviously it's a big game for us, and we need to be focused and prepared for it. It's different for both teams, as we're used to playing at the weekend, and it's the opposite of the Cup semi-final in that we're away in the first leg.

"We need to be competitive, but we can't win the tie in the first leg, all we can do is set up the second leg. We're down a few bodies at the moment. Lynard [Stewart] is out for four-six weeks, and I'm just getting back into playing shape. Trey [Moore] twisted his ankle in practice on Sunday, he'll play, but he'll be less than 100 percent. We have to play smart and be composed. They are a deep team, and Andre Smith is having a phenomenal season. With the likes of Josh Gross, Richard Midgley and Chris Haslam in their side they are really deep team, and Tony Dorsey is back now, so it's going to be tough."

MANCHESTER MAGIC DESTROY ALL COMERS

MANCHESTER MAGIC TAKE U16s AND U18s CUP FINALS

	1	2	3	4
MANCHESTER MAGIC	26	55	88	113
PLYMOUTH CANNONS	10	25	30	40

HEAT AND RAIDERS GO HEAD TO HEAD AGAIN

Old rivals Airwaves Plymouth Raiders and Guildford Heat go head-to-head in the BBL Trophy semi-final first leg on Saturday evening.

With a place in the final at Guildford Spectrum on March 15 awaiting the winner, both sides will be looking to take a healthy lead into next Wednesday's second leg. The winner of the tie will be decided on aggregate score.

Although his team have won all three games against the Heat this season, Plymouth coach Gary Stronach is taking nothing for granted as they prepare for Saturday's match-up: "There was not a lot between us in the Cup games. I think we need to take care of the incidentals, the little things that can swing a game. Heat are the in-form team of the league, in EJ Harrison, Mike Martin and Keonta Howell they have guys who can put up some big numbers. PJ [Paul James] has his team playing really well."

Heat coach Paul James is expecting a difficult game when his side travel to Plymouth: "The Raiders have been going through a bit of an up and down time of late but make no mistake, they are still a very formidable and talented team. They have some good players and Gary does a good job in getting them to play well together."

"Dru Lasker, Terrance Durham and Gaylon Moore have been stand out players for the Raiders, but the rest of the team have the ability to contribute in a big way and this makes them a tough team to play against."

While this is a repeat of the BBL Trophy semi-final, the venues are reversed this time, with Heat at home in the second leg, and James is pleased with that fact: "It's great to be at home in the second leg as our supporters could just be the helping hand we need to get to the final that is being held on our home court the Guildford Spectrum."

BBL TROPHY SEMI FINALS
SATURDAY 14th FEB
PLYMOUTH RAIDERS	V	GUILDFORD HEAT
TUESDAY 17th FEB
EVERTON TIGERS	V	NEWCASTLE EAGLES
WEDNESDAY 18th FEB
GUILDFORD HEAT	V	PLYMOUTH RAIDERS
FRIDAY 20th FEB
NEWCASTLE EAGLES	V	EVERTON TIGERS

BBL Trophy Final
Sunday 15th March 2009 @ Guildford Spectrum

MORE ON THE BBL TROPHY HERE

MORE GAME PREVIEWS

Before then, Newcastle Eagles will look for a quick-fire double against basement side PAWS London Capital when the sides clash for the second time in a fortnight on Friday.

When the teams met at Capital City Academy two weeks ago, Eagles comfortably won 109-93 to go top of the table but despite that victory. Eagles player- coach Fabulous Flournoy knows that his side cannot relax against the London side: "They are pretty similar to Worcester Wolves, and we have to make sure we close the game out properly. Marcus Knight, Laken Popoola and Darren Knight are their key players, and we need to keep an eye on them."

Marshall MK Lions will look to wrap up the season series against Sheffield Sharks on Friday night when the teams meet in BBL Championship action. The teams met on the same court in November, with Lions running out 80-74 winners and a victory on Friday night would give them the decider if the teams finish level at the end of the season.

Lions coach Vince Macauley is looking forward to facing Sharks on Friday evening: "Sheffield are a team still coming to terms with their identity, so many new players, a new coach and new players mid season, those things always slow you down and I know Atiba will want them to be consistent, I expect a tough battle especially against the big men."

PAWS London Capital and Jelson Homes Leicester Riders meet for the second time in three weeks on Saturday as the home side look to avoid being swept by Rob Paternostro's team.

Although his side have won both of the previous games between the clubs this season, Riders coach Paternostro is expecting a difficult game at the Capital City Academy: "Last time down there we had a difficult game and they shot the ball really well. They do that at home, and they can put a lot of points on the board, so we have to find a way to limit that. We're pretty familiar with them as we went there a couple of weeks ago and we know it will be a tough game. We have to be ready for them, they ran Worcester close on Saturday, and there aren't any easy games in the BBL."

"I don't think there is too much we need to do different this time around against the Plymouth. We are playing better now than we were then, better prepared and having been playing really well. Even in the Everton game we played well enough to beat most teams in the league."

REINKING IS ENGLAND PLAYER OF THE YEAR