Teesside take broom to dullened Stars
Teesside Mohawks completed a clean sweep of the NBL Division One trophy cabinet this season, retaining their play-off Championship crown with an outstanding 80-63 victory over Solent Stars at Wembley.
Tony Hanson's men had been a cut above their contemporaries all season long in gathering both the league and NBL Trophy prizes and they became only the third team to complete the National League trebele.They did not baulk in the face of their final challenge, a 10-0 run which included three pointers from Jason Swaine and Greg Modzelewski giving the northern side a lead which they would not relinquish again.
Veteran Colin Irish, still sparkling at the age of 39, contributed a game-high 27 points for the south coast outfit, 19 in the first 20 minutes, but he could not prevent the Mohawks from pulling away in the latter stages.
Ahead narrowly 32-29 at half-time, Teesside were able to out-gun a Stars side hindered by a game-ending injury to Panji Grainger soon after the interval. Final MVP honours went to Mohawks' inspirational American EJ Harrison, who sparked the second half crusade while his team were led in scoring by Ralph Bucci who hit 16 points, adding nine rebounds.
However afterwards came the news that both Irish and his 45 year old team-mate Alan Cunningham had played their last games, yielding to the inevitable march of time.
Kingston over-turn the wrong Attitude
In the Division Two final, there was an upset victory for Kingston Wildcats, who came back from a double-digit first half deficit to defeat Manchester Attitude 68-62.Nigel Acres' underdogs trailed 37-26 at the break but inspired by ex-London Towers guard Ian Rich - on his way to a final best 24 points, they turned the game on its head to notch a first ever trophy for the club.
Copyright Britball. Download is subject to Britball's Terms and Conditions