EAGLES DEFEAT RIDERS IN ANOTHER CRACKER

The second weekend of the 9/10 BBL Championship season got off to victories from the Newcastle Eagles, Glasgow Rocks and Sheffield Sharks on Friday evening.

Newcastle kept up their 100% start to the Championship season thanks to a hard-fought 112- 105 victory over the Jelson Homes DMU Leicester Riders at the Metro Radio Arena. A 15-2 burst, including 10 points from Tack Minor, from the Riders bought the visitors back into the game at 96-95, but 7 points from Charles Smith instigated a 12-2 run for the Eagles to take the score to 111-100 and the home side held on for the important victory.

The Glasgow Rocks endured a long trip down to Milton Keynes, but returned home with a 78-96 victory over the Marshall MK Lions at the Bletchley Leisure Centre on Friday night. The Lions led early on and took a 49-41 lead into the locker rooms at the half.

The Rocks began to get themselves back into the game in the second half and were able to break the game open early in the final period with a 23-2 burst to take the score out to 65-88 and they held on for the comfortable victory.

Sheffield Sharks enjoyed their first victory of the season defeating the Worthing Thunder 84-78 at the EIS, Sheffield. The visitors led 46-49 early in the second half, but 6 points from Tafari Toney helped the Sharks into a 56-49 lead off the back of a 10-0 run. The Sharks maintained their lead throughout the remainder of the game, and despite Worthing getting back to within five points at 81-76, the Sharks held on for the victory.

SHARKS LAUNCH NEW SEASON AND NEW ERA

BBL team the Sheffield Sharks today held a Launch Event prior to their first home game at the EISS, Sheffield, when they take on the Worthing Thunder on Friday evening.

The Sharks will feature new signings Tafari 'TAP' Toney, Mike Cook and Ryan Patton. Patton played the last few years for the Thunder and it should be an emotional evening for him as he faces his old team.

FULL REPORT AND MORE PICTURES TO FOLLOW

SEE FRIDAY'S GAMES PREVIEW HERE

CHANGING OF THE GUARD AT THE TIGERS

Everton Tigers has announced club chairman Gary Townsend will be stepping down to move to League Two football club Notts County.

Townsend, (Pictured left) who has been instrumental in the establishment of the Tigers as a professional club and a force in the BBL, will take over at the Nottingham club as chief operations officer.

He will be replaced by Martyn Best, who has been vice- chairman since the Tigers' foundation. Former coach Henry Mooney will leave his basketball development role to become vice-chairman.

Best said: "Everyone here wishes Gary good luck at Notts County and we acknowledge his drive and energy in bringing the Tigers to where they are today.

"I'm hoping we can build on last season's success and would really urge all our fans to spread the word. Thanks to the support of the Echo Arena, I'm hoping we can start our home season against Guildford with a win in front of a great Merseyside crowd."

He continued, "We have a few more signings to finalise in the next few days, and with our coaching team from last season really fired up, our hopes are high."

NEWCASTLE EAGLES MAKE A '2 AND 0' START

The Newcastle Eagles, reigning BBL champions, have picked up where they left off after two wins on the opening weekend sees them top the early BBL Championship table.

On Sunday they were victorious against big rivals the Glasgow Rocks, 86-90 north of the border. Former Rock Charles Smith led their scoring with 21 points, while Darius Defoe had a double-double of 18 points and 12 rebounds.

It was a close game throughout, but after a strong third quarter the Eagles established a double-digit lead in the fourth and they looked to have the game won with a 73-85 lead with three minutes remaining. However, the Rocks hit nine straight points to make it a one possession game at 82-85 with 1:28 left. But the Eagles withstood that charge with a triple from Smith, and Flournoy and Jackson each making 1/2 at the line within the last minute.

Elsewhere, the Cheshire Jets bounced back from opening night disappointment to beat the Marshall MK Lions 78-77 with a three-pointer from Paul Peterson on the buzzer, leaving their new point guard "speechless" on his home debut.

The Jets had looked comfortable going into the fourth quarter leading 66-53. However, the Lions opened the period with a massive 15-2 surge, which included three of Yorick Williams' eight three-pointers on the night, and they went on to take the lead as they were one point up with 3 seconds remaining.

The Jets got the ball inbounds to Peterson and he connected with the game-winning three-pointer from in front of the Lions' bench.

A MINOR TRIPLE DOUBLE DESTROYS SHARKS

Continuing the opening weekend of the 2009/10 BBL Championship season, there were opening game victories for the Jelson Homes DMU Leicester Riders, Guildford Heat and Worthing Thunder on Saturday evening as the season begins to get into full swing.

Leicester enjoyed a comfortable 113-93 victory over the Sheffield Sharks at the John Sanford Centre. Leicester lead for much of the game and a 12-3 tear in the final period gave them an unasailable 111-89 lead with 1:15 remaining in the game.

Bradd Wierzbicki picked up where we left off at the end of the 2008/9 campaign by leading the Riders scoring with 32 points, but it was new signing Taurean Minor who grabbed the headlines with an opening night "triple- double" performance of 19 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists.

Guildford Heat were made to work hard in their opening contest of the campaign but eventually ran out comfortable 65-95 winners over the PAWS London Capital at the Capital City Academy. A 12-0 tear midway through the third period took the score out to 48-61 and ended the resilience of the home side as the Heat were able to run out comfortable winners.

In the other game of the night, Worthing Thunder got their campaign off to an explosive start with a 104-84 victory over the Airwaves Plymouth Raiders. In a closely-fought match-up, the Thunder eventually broke the game open in the final period when a three-pointer from new-signing Sherrad Prezzie-Blue instigated a 13-0 burst to take the score out to 96-74 and despite a valiant attempt from the visitors to get themselves back into the game, the home side ran out victorious.

BBL RESULTS WEEK 1 - 09/10 SEASON

FRIDAY 25th SEPTEMBER 2009

Marshall MK Lions 94 (22,49,67) (New 17, Holmes/Spinks/Griksas 12)
Worcester Wolves 81 (18,32,49) (George 18, Holmes 13, Zabas 13)

Marshall MK Lions opened their league campaign with a comfortable 94-81 victory over Worcester Wolves at Bletchley Leisure Centre.

Six Lions players ended the night in double figures with veteran Michael New leading the way with 17 points. Worcester new boy Randy George led all-scorers with 18 points.

Worcester were in the match in the first quarter until a 5-2 close to the period was followed by a 9-2 burst, started and ended by Robert Youngblood, at the beginning of the second. By half time the Lions lead had been extended to 49-32.

Dru Spinks helped himself to six straight points in the third quarter as Lions pulled away to 67-49 with 10 minutes remaining and Wolves could never mount a charge in the final stanza.

Lions boss Vince Macaulay declared himself delighted with the result: "I was really pleased with our effort tonight and I'm very excited to see how we'll look when we're all together."

Newcastle Eagles 85 (15,38,59) (Stewart 24, Chapman 16, Flournoy 11)
Cheshire Jets 74 (17,42,54) (Hamilton 22, Peterson 13, Myers/Marks 12)

BBL champions Newcastle Eagles began their title defence in style with an 85-74 home win over Cheshire Jets.

Two familiar faces, Lynard Stewart and player-coach Fab Flournoy, were joined by new signing Joe Chapman in leading the Eagles scoring as a second half burst pulled them away from the Jets.

The match was marred by an ankle injury to Jets forward Calvin Davis in the second half, which unsettled the visitors and allowed Newcastle to build a match winning run.

An even first quarter was shaded by Cheshire 15-17 and the Jets still led at the second interval 38-42 - although Eagles had closed the half with an 8-3 run.

Jets led for the final time at 53-54 before a 12-0 burst, split evenly over the third quarter interval put Newcastle in charge. From there the Jets couldn't find a way back into the game as the Eagles cruised to the victory.

New signing Chapman was pleased with his debut: "The key to the game was Cheshire closing us on the outside which left room for Lynard inside."

BBL FIXTURES WEEK 1 - 09/10 SEASON

COULD THIS BE THE KEY SIGNING OF THE NEW SEASON?

SATURDAY 26th SEPTEMBER 2009

LEICESTER RIDERS V SHEFFIELD SHARKS - 7:30pm CH

LONDON CAPITAL V GUILDFORD HEAT - 7:30pm CH

WORTHING THUNDER V PLYMOUTH RAIDERS- 7:00pm CH

SUNDAY 27th SEPTEMBER 2009

CHESHIRE JETS V MILTON KEYNES LIONS - 5:30pm CH

GLASGOW ROCKS V NEWCASTLE EAGLES - 5:00pm CH

MOLTEN RENEWS ITS BBL SPONSORSHIP

Molten, the world's largest manufacturer of inflatable sports balls, has renewed its sponsorship of the British Basketball League (BBL) for a second three- year term.

The new three-year deal, which commences this month (September 2009), sees Molten's distinctive, 12-panel G-Series basketball, once again, as the exclusive and official BBL league and club ball.

The sponsorship package includes two elements, namely a substantial supply of the Molten G-Series professional basketballs and funding. While the balls will be used in all BBL games, Cup games and Championship Finals, as well as all junior development programmes, community projects by BBL Clubs and any other events which the BBL undertakes, the cash is to be directly invested by BBL in a scheme to develop basketball in the clubs' communities.

A further element of the sponsorship agreement means that all Molten products, including digital scoreboards, continue to be available exclusively online via the BBL web site (www.bbl.org.uk).

Bob Hope, chairman of Molten Sports and one of the original founders of the League, said: "We are very pleased to be in a position to continue our sponsorship of the British Basketball League for a second three-year term, despite the current economic climate. We feel it is vital that the top UK professional teams play with the latest basketball equipment in the build up to London 2012 and we have been able to continue our sponsorship following strong basketball sales over the year, which have increased by over 35%. In addition, we have developed an excellent working relationship with the BBL over the past three years and are looking forward to developing it even further over the coming years and assisting them, not only with a supply of balls, but also in helping to improve club development and competition."

He continued: "Indeed sponsorship of the League fits in well with our programme of basketball sponsorship, which currently includes all FIBA international events and all the GB Teams, the Great Britain Wheelchair Basketball Association, Basketball Ireland, Basketball Wales, England Schools Basketball and Mini-Basketball England."

Paul Blake, chairman, British Basketball League added: "Our clubs use the Molten range of basketballs across all elements of their business from community work right the way through to the top level BBL Competitions. We feel the Molten basketballs are, by some distance, the best in the business and hence we are delighted to be extending this deal for a further three year period."

YORICK WILLIAMS ... A LION ONCE MORE

Marshall MK Lions have announced that Great Britain International, Yorick Williams is back in the Black and Gold for the coming season.

The colourful Manchester-born player, known as, the Boss from Moss Side, averaged 12.3 points per game whilst only playing 24 minutes per game, whilst also shooting 45% from the floor.

Lions Chief, Vince Macaulay commented "I get on very well with Yorick and the Lions fans love him, he is exciting, athletic and can shoot the ball".

Williams, a 6'4" shooting guard, is a previous BBL Championship and BBL Cup winner, he also featured for Chris Finch's GB squad last summer. the leading scorer on that team.

Apart from the 2001-02 season, when he played for ARIS Thessaloniki in Greece, Williams has spent the entirety of his fourteen-year professional career in the BBL, and each year bringing significant impact to his teams.

"Yorick is already a legend to British players" added Macaulay, all young English players look up to him and he leads the youngsters in letting them know how far they can go in their basketball so I am glad to have him here".

Williams joins up with returnees, Dru Spinks, Mike New, and Robert Youngblood, whilst a host of new faces make up the Lions line up. EJ Harrison joins from Guildford whilst guard Dawud Morris is a new face alongside Lithuanian, Irmantas Griksas and young British players, Craig Pringle, Ishmael Fontaine and Maximillion Simon. Macaulay expects to make another two signings before the season starts.

The Lions enter their first action of the new season as Team USA Select visit Milton Keynes this Sunday the 20th, tip off at 4pm, and the season proper opens up on the 25th of September when the Worcester Wolves are the visitors.

CHARLES SMITH BACK IN THE EAGLES' FOLD

Newcastle Eagles are delighted to announce that they have retained the services of fans favourite "Prince" Charles Smith for the forthcoming 2009/10 BBL season.

Smith, a 10 year graduate from Rider College will want to start where he left off last season, with some game winning performances which took the Eagles to treble winning success. In one of his most consistent seasons with the club, Smith averaged 12 points and 4 rebounds a game and brought veteran experience to a youthful Eagles front line.

Eagles coach Fab Flournoy underlined the importance of the need for Smith in the Eagles line up this season. He said "Charles continues to bring a wealth of experience to the team. He is a savvy player that can score on you in bunches if you turn your eye. He can do this from inside or outside as we saw in the Team USA game this week. There were many games last season where Charles' offensive game got us out of tight spots - we look forward to seeing more of that!"

Eagles Managing Director Paul Blake was pleased to see the return of Smith for his eighth season with the club. "Charles is officially an adopted Geordie now and has been a true glue player for the team over the last two seasons. He is the player that consistently comes up big in the must win games and for that reason alone he is a key for the team. Its great to have the Prince back again this season."

"His fitness levels definitely improved across last season as he was largely clear of injuries. I am hoping that this continues and looking at pre-season so far it certainly seems to be the case."

The Eagles now look forward to two weeks of pre- season before hosting Cheshire Jets at the Newcastle MetroRadio Arena on Friday 25th September in the opening game of the season. Tickets are now available from the club and Arena box office.

9/10 SHEFFIELD SHARKS READY TO GET IT ON

The Sheffield Sharks enjoyed great success at the first of their pre-season games at the EISS on Sunday evening. On show were Shark's new signings, Ryan Patton above, Tafari Toney and Mike Cook.

Also there were Sharks legend Todd Cauthorn and BBL veteran Adrian Anderson returning to the top league after many years in the EBL. The Sharks defeated the USA Select team 95 - 70.

The top scorer on the night was Mike Cook with 27 while Patton added 22 points (5 for 11 from the arc).

The MVP, however, was probably Todd Cauthorn with 18 points (12 for 12 from the line), 3 rebounds and 3 assists. It was just like the old days.

FULL REPORT HERE

AN OPEN LETTER TO CHRIS FINCH & TEAM GB

Hi there CHRIS

I hope you are well and recovering from your exploits in Poland.

I know that you didn’t get a victory in the tournament, but I think you and the team certainly proved that Great Britain has every right to be at the top table of European Basketball.

Unfortunately, as much as I wanted to, I could not be there in Poland but saw every minute of the games on the BBC. 

I am delighted that the BBC found the resources to bring us the three games live and in full on the Red button, although the Spanish game deserved to be on Broadcast television.  That was my opinion even before the game was played. It was always going to be awesome.

I should also mention BBC Radio 5-Live who gave the tournament a few mentions and gave the Great Britain scores the morning after the games. I do not think that you let the BBC or us down in any way.

I can tell you I had a tear in my eye during the Spain game; not when it became obvious that we were not going to win but in fact when we scored the 3 pointer which took us to a 4 point lead.  It was extremely emotional.

This is what great sport is about and I loved every minute of the three games.

The two summers prior to this one were a great joy for those of us who follow GB Basketball.  The promotion to Eurobasket 1 on the back of a perfect set of results was just sensational.  But to me, that was surpassed by the performances last summer, qualifying for Poland with just 1 defeat, and that a questionable one on the road in Israel.  I’m glad we got the better of them in that sensational game at the Echo Arena in Liverpool.

You and the team have given us something to be truly proud of.

I know that we will have to wait and see if FIBA feels that we have done enough to warrant our place at the 2012 Olympics.  For what it’s worth I think we deserve that place more than ever now.  What we have achieved over the past three years has been nothing short of a miracle and I believe much of it has been down to you. 

To do what we have just done in Poland without our biggest name was quite simply incredible.

I know that you will be working hard to get the guys ready for future tournaments, but whatever the future holds, British Basketball owes you a debt of gratitude.  I hope that that will be recognised and I hope that British Basketball will be able to repay you sometime in the future.

Very best wishes

Mike S

MIKE SHAFT HOOKS UP WITH ANDRE SMITH

The star of the BBL season 2008/09 was mikeshaft.com Player of the Year Andre Smith. Andre played for the Everton Tigers, leading the team to success in the BBL CUP and to second place in the BBL League Championship.

After a hugely successful season he has now made the move to Izmir, Turkey where he will play in their top division. I had the pleasure of hooking up with Andre.

READ THE FULL STORY HERE.

MORE 2009 BASKETBALL NEWS HERE