BBL Championship
Edinburgh Rocks
58 (15,30,40)
(Gardner 17, Graves 13, Berry 12)
Chester Jets
91 (22,48,69)
(Davis 30, Thomas 23, Hamilton 15)
Chester Jets stampeded
at full tilt into the BBL play-offs on Sunday night, thrashing a wholly
heartless Edinburgh Rocks 91-58 at Meadowbank to secure the first post-season
berth. Even without John McCord (calf) and Mike Redd, who is out for the
season after fracturing his fibula, Jets cruised to their easiest win of
the campaign with Calvin Davis in supreme form in scoring a game-high 30
points.
It was one-way traffic
for Robbie Peers side after they raced into an early 12-3 lead and only
twice in the entire first half did Chester allow their hosts to score consecutive
baskets. With Paul Singer inserted into the starting line-up, the Jets
raced 48-30 clear by half-time and a John Thomas-inspired 20-6 flurry in
the third quarter ensured that there would be no hangover from Saturday’s
upset to Leopards. Thomas, who ended with 23, man-handled an Edinburgh
team whose coach Kevin Wall accused of “not trying” and there was even
time for little-used Vijay Ramburuth to seal the rout with a three-pointer
at the final buzzer.
Newcastle Eagles
103 (29,55,77)
(Myers 30, Leak 20, Walker 15)
Derby Storm
80 (19,41,60)
(Robinson 20, Miller/Griffin 16)
Newcastle Eagles
claimed their fourth championship win in a row with a 103-80 success over
the Derby Storm. Eagles started well leading by 10 at the first interval
and with Shawn Myers in fine form they stretched their lead through the
middle quarters. Myers (30) and Malcolm Leak (20) combined for almost half
of the Geordies points, whilst Durrell Robinson led the Storm with 20 points.
Westfield Sharks
Sheffield 81 (24,42,62)
(Stewart/Reinking 16, Monaco 14)
Brighton Bears
69 (20,36,57)
(White 17, Davis 15, Johnson 14)
Westfield Sharks
Sheffield claimed their third win in four days with an 81-69 success over
Brighton Bears. Sheffield started brightly with threes from Nate Reinking
and Jeff Monaco giving them a 20-10 lead, but the Bears were soon back
within touching distance. In the second quarter 10 unanswered by the Sharks
had them 38-25 clear, but again the Bears roared back and likewise in the
third, an 8-0 burst by the Sharks was wiped out by the visitors before
the quarter was done. But Justin Phoenix netted the opening four points
of the fourth and though Bear again tried to close the gap, Monaco ended
the contest with the last six points to seal it. Five Sharks scored between
13 and 16 points in a spread offensive showing from Sheffield, whilst Albert
White led all scorers with 17.
London Towers
98 (24,42,72)
(Myers 37, White 17, Eppehimer 12)
Leopards
96 (17,40,66)
(Robinson 21, Kimbrough 19, Henlan 15)
Kinder London Towers
snatched a dramatic two point win over Leopards Kool Kats
in a thrilling London
derby. A packed house saw Towers lead for much of the first half but they
could never get away from their visitors. Things were very tight in the
third and fourth quarters as the lead and momentum swung back and forth.
Mo Robinson levelled the game at 96 with 21s left and Towers held for the
last shot. Silas Cheung's effort, though, didn't drop, but Ted Allen dunked
in the rebound with 0.1s left to seal the thrilling win. Terrell Myers
put on another good sow with 37 points, whilst Mo Robinson led the Leopards
with 21 points.
Milton Keynes
Lions 95
(20,45,71) (Brown 24, Payne 20, Siemon
17)
Birmingham
67 (16,28,49)
(Johnson 15, Bailey/Paternostro 12)
Milton Keynes Lions
continued their rich vein of form with a 95-67 success over Pertemps Bullets
Birmingham. The Bullets scored the opening point of the game, but Lions
hit the next twelve and never looked back. Runs of 6-0 and 11-2 in the
second quarter had Lions 45-28 ahead at the break and Nigel Lloyd and Jermaine
Brown both hit long range efforts in a 13-2 third quarter tear. Brown,
who top scored with 24 points, bagged another couple of threes in a 10-0
start to the final period, which gave Milton Keynes their biggest lead
of the game at 81-49.
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