Sainsbury's Classic Cola Cup Final 2000
Sharks defend Cup despite Dorsey brilliance
Tony Dorsey hit a magnificent individual tally of 35 points but he was just a dazed spectator as Westfield Sharks Sheffield came from behind to successfully defend their Sainsbury's Classic Cola Cup title with a 89-80 defeat of Manchester Giants.
It was tough luck on the Giants' star forward who had single-handedly kept his team in the game as Sharks ran riot in the second half, out-rebounding, out-hustling and out-playing their trans-Pennine rivals.
In fact, without Dorsey's energy, the final margin could have been greater for Chris Finch's side who had earlier erased a nine-point first half deficit to come back to lead by as much as 11 points later in the game.
"It was a great game," admitted Finch generously. "Manchester showed some fabulous defence and came out and put lots of pressure on us.
"We were missing a lot of stuff bu t I was happy at half-time when we were just three down even though we weren't playing well."
For much of the first 20 minutes, it looked likely that a new name would be going on the trophy as Giants lived up to their recent form and shut Sharks scorers down, Terrell Myers restricted to just nine points in that period. Nick Nurse's men were running the ball well in transition and their "hosts" struggled to get easy baskets.
Runs of 9-0 and 7-0 left Manchester up 24-23 midway through the half and it was Sheffield's veteran frontcourt duo of Peter Scantlebury and Todd Cauthorn who fired the opening salvos of a fightback, bringing the Yorkshiremen back to trail just 39-42 at the break.
Immediately after the re-start, the advantage exchanged possession four times in succession as Nate Reinking and Dorsey traded baskets. But with Reinking at the tiller, Sharks pulled 63-53 in front on a 12-2 spurt which was closed by an athletic tip-in by Scantlebury.
Dorsey kept marking his mark but he was getting little help from his colleagues in green who failed to respond to Nurse's vocal urging.
Eventually his troops compiled six points without reply to close to 69-64 but a succession of missed shots from the foul strip brought them no nearer. Giants' Travis Conlan - a winner last season in Sheffield - and Phil Handy both fouled out before the end as Reinking increased his team-high haul to 21 points to ensure that skipper Cauthorn would lift the Cup for the third time in six years.
"I didn't make any mention of it because I didn't want to put any pressure on the guys if we had not won the game, but I really personally wanted us to win this for Nate [Reinking] because he has done so much for us," admiited Finch.
"I was really tired of hearing that he was the only Shark without a medal - that was a little unfair because he's only been with us a short while. We were thrilled to death and for him to be named MVP was certainly a deserving honour."
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