BBL Championship
Derby Storm 98
(18,40,73) (Robinson 24, Kennedy 22, Peterson 20)
Brighton Bears
125 (27,55,90) (Duck 22, Davis 21, Farrington/Jackson 19)
Brighton Bears closed
the gap to four points at the top of the Southern Conference thanks to
a 125-98 over the Derby Storm. Brighton dominated the whole game
and opened up with a 10-0 run midway through the opening quarter and a
7-2 tear in the second to ultimately lead 55-40 at the half. The
second half was much the same with Brighton closing out the game with a
27-15 burst to ultimately picked up the victory.
"Our guys now have
a good understanding of what it takes to win in this league," said Bears
coach Nick Nurse. Opposite number John Spezia was less complementary about
the Storm. "Inexperience showed," he said.
Durrell Robinson
led all scorers with 24 points for Derby, while Randy Duck led the Bears
scoring with 22.
Leicester Riders
87 (15,32,68) (Johnson 26, Blalock 24, New/Singleton 16)
Westfield Sharks
Sheffield 80 (19,43,69) (Phoenix 20, Monaco 17, Stewart 11)
Leicester Riders
kept hold of the final play-off spot in the Northern Conference with a
'come from behind' 87-80 upset over title chasing Westfield Sharks Sheffield.
Leicester opened
with an 11-5 run in the first, but Sheffield came back with a 14-4 run
in the first, and a 13-6 tear in the second to ultimately lead 43-32 at
the half. In the second half, Leicester came out with 15-5 and 7-0
runs in the third period to lead 56-53. In the final quarter, the
Riders enjoyed a 9-2 tear to go ahead 77-70 and held onto victory from
the foul line. Larry Johnson led all scorers with 26 points for the
Riders, while the Sharks scoring was led by Justin Phoenix with 20.
Pertemps Bullets
Birmingham 89 (21,38,61) (Bailey 28, Garcia 25, Paternostro/Johnson 14)
Kinder London
Towers 83 (26,41,60) (Myers 29, Eppehimer 18, Robbins 13)
Birmingham defeated
Southern Conference pacesetters Kinder London Towers 89-83 to
keep the title and
playoffs hopes alive. "This was a big win for us," said Bullets coach Lance
Randall, whose side leap to third place.
The Towers started
the stronger and enjoyed a 10-1 run in the first to take the score out
to 19-9, but the Bullets stormed back in the second period with an 11-4
tear to get back to 32-32 midway through the quarter, however the Bullets
still trailed 41-38 at the half. In the second half, Birmingham began
to stretch ahead, and in the final quarter, they enjoyed an 11-1 burst
at the start of the period, and never relinquished the lead from then on
despite four late three pointers from Terrell Myers, the game-high scorer
with 29 points.
Brant Bailey led
the Bullets scorers with 28 points with the outstanding Antonio Garcia
adding 25.
Leopards Kool
Kats 92 (25,49,71) (Robinson 28, Alderson 15, Kimbrough/Brown 12)
Edinburgh Rocks
106 (30,47,77) (Gaines 28, Graves 23, Berry/Gardner 19)
Edinburgh Rocks
kept up the challenge for the play-offs with a 106-92 victory at
Leopards. The guests dominated much of the game and enjoyed an 8-0
run in the first to take the score to 28-21, and then a 16-3 run in the
third period to lead 63-54. Leopards got to within
three at 71-74 towards
the end of the third period, but could reverse the deposit. Jon Gaines
led the Rocks scorers with 28 points, while the Leopards scoring was led
by Maurice Robinson also with 28 points.
Thames Valley
Tigers 80 (24,39,59) (Bowman 23, Martin 16, Meldrum 10)
Milton Keynes
Lions 83 (23,47,63) (Alleyne/Siemon 21, Lloyd 15)
Milton Keynes Lions
kept their play-off hopes intact with an 83-80 road victory over the Thames
Valley Tigers. A tight game throughout saw the Lions ahead 63-59
after three, but Kelvin Robinson levelled the scores at 67-67 for the Tigers,
before a 10-0 run for the Lions took them ahead 77-67. Tigers came back
with a 13-4 tear of their own to trim it back to 80-81, but Nigel Lloyd
sealed the victory for the Lions from the line.
Barry Bowman led
all scorers with 23 points for the Tigers, while Andrew Alleyne and Jason
Siemon each bagged 21 points.
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