BBL Championship
Chester Jets  103  (38,58,79)  (Thomas 32, McCord 28, Davis 20)
Thames Valley Tigers  93  (34,57,70)  (Meldrum 24, Jamison 20, Bowman 17)

Chester Jets kept their two-point advantage at the top of the Northern Conference thanks to a 103-93 success over Thames Valley Tigers. A frantic first quarter saw nothing between the sides and an impressive 72 points on the board in only 10 minutes. The scoring slowed in the second but there was still not much between the sides. 

Chester pulled away in the third, but it took an 8-2 tear in the final stanza to make the game safe. John Thomas marked his return from injury with a game high 32 points, whilst Greg Meldrum poured in 24 for the Tigers who fall to bottom of the Southern Conference.
 

Edinburgh Rocks  81  (29,50,57)  (Gaines 27, Gardner 14, Berry 13)
Pertemps Bullets Birmingham  78  (15,37,60)  (Bailey 28, Johnson 16, Paternostro 13)

Edinburgh Rocks are now just two points off the play-off zone with two games in hand over Leicester following a dramatic 81-78 success over Birmingham Bullets. Edinburgh dominated the first half with runs of 7-0 and 6-0 setting them on their way to a 14-point first quarter advantage. 

Birmingham, sparked by the tenacious Rob Paternostro, held the Rocks scoreless for seven third quarter minutes rattling off 18 without reply to lead 60-56. In a fiery last ten minutes Roy Gardner was ejected for the Rocks after an altercation with the Bullets guard, but they responded to lead by three with 0.7 seconds left. 

Rashod Johnson had the opportunity to force overtime from the line, but drew a blank on all three free throws. Jon Gaines and Brant Bailey both had fine weekends, adding 27 and 28
respectively to their impressive hauls on Saturday night.
 

Brighton Bears  88  (21,44,67)  (Farrington 17, White 16, Duck 15)
Leicester Riders  86  (16,31,55)  (New/Singleton 23, Brown 14)
(After overtime; 77-77 at regulation time)

Brighton Bears moved to within two points of the Southern Conference summit with a game in hand, but not before edging a determined Leicester side in overtime. Bears enjoyed long spells in front and looked to be cruising going into the final period 67-55 to good. But Leicester rallied at the death with the game’s last six points, including a Larry Johnson basket with 4.4s left to force overtime.

Randy Duck gave Bears the lead in the closing seconds and though Johnson had a chance to force a second overtime, he missed both from the line with 1.6s left. Rodger Farrington led the Bears with 17 while Michael New had an impressive double-double of 23 points and 17 rebounds.
 

Kinder London Towers  70  (21,37,56)  (Youngblood 19, Eppehimer 16, Myers 15)
Westfield Sharks Sheffield  79  (26,49,65)  (Cauthorn 22, Stewart/Phoenix/Monaco 13)

Westfield Sharks Sheffield bounced back from Saturday’s loss to defeat Southern Conference leaders Kinder London Towers 79-70. Sheffield led throughout stretching into a 12-point half-time lead. 

Towers, who welcomed back John White from injury but were without Ted Allen, raced back into the game in the third to close to 56-59. A 7-0 finish to the quarter had Sheffield back in a comfort zone and when Towers pegged them back again in the fourth, they bagged seven of the last nine points to secure the win. 

Todd Cauthorn led all scorers with 22, whilst Robert Youngblood led the Towers with 19.
 

Milton Keynes Lions  93  (23,51,70)  (J Brown 26, Lloyd 20, Siemon 19)
Leopards 81  (23,36,59)  (Robinson 19, R Brown 17, Henlan 12)

Milton Keynes Lions claimed their seventh win in eight games to keep up their pursuit of a play-off berth in the Southern Conference. The first quarter was pretty tight but Nigel Lloyd, Leon Noel and Jermaine Brown all hit from behind the arc as part of an 11-0 run which opened the game up in the second quarter. A 10-0 burst midway through the third quarter brought the Leopards right back into the game, but the Lions responded immediately with eight of the next ten points to re-establish their double figure lead going into the final quarter. 

Jermaine Brown again led the Lions charge with 26 points, whilst Mo Robinson led the Leopards with 19.
 
 

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