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BBL Jets too good for off-key Sharks
Chester Jets hustled, bustled and blew Sheffield Sharks down on their home court, taking a 76-92 win at Sheffield Arena, their third in three matches between the Northern Conference rivals this season.
But the manner in which the wafer-thin Jets roster took their hosts apart left Chris Finch aghast, his team trailing for all but the opening 2:15 of the contest as the visitors notched 12 straight points for a 4-12 lead which they never relinquished.
It was one-way traffic throughout, that initial burst followed with a further 11 points without reply around the first quarter break, a rn which was capped by a three pointer from Terrence Lewis which left Jets 12-29 to the good. In fact at one stage, Robbie Peers' men were 5/'5 from three point range with 10/14 - productivity which would beat most teams.
Terrell Myers, who has trained just once in two weeks, could do little to help, despite a brave 13 point performance and only Nate Reinking with 27 points dented Jets basket with any regularity.
And it was veteran James Hamilton, still suffering with the flu, who did most damage en route to a game high 29 points. He felt Jets had proved a point.
"Maybe Sheffield overlook Chester in favour of teams like Manchester. But we wanted to go out and prove that we can play anybody," said the All-Star. "We felt we matched up well against them and we cam out and proved it."
Prove it they did, threatening to blow out the league champions for the second time in seven days, as the lead grew to 28-48 at half-time. Only foul trouble threatened Jets dominance but the fifth-placed team in the North kept their cool, even when a three-point play from Wil Johnson cut the gap to just nine points early in the third quarter.
Their response was to hit 10 points in a row to increase their advantage to 41-64 and although Sharks notched seven unanswered points around the final quarter rest, Sheffield's bench continued to provide little aid to the weary starters and the Jets deservedly won.
"We let them take control of the game early on," conceded Finch. "Terrell gave us what he could but when the referees let them beat up and him, it's tough. Nate's giving us a lot of points right now but not a lot else. We've got no inside game."
Sharp shooting Greg Francis added 22 points for the victors who host Milton Keynes on Sunday.
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