Chester	90	Thomas 38,  McCord 19,  Cameron 12, Davis 9, Hamilton 8, Gardner 4
Milton Keynes	89	Brown 26, Lloyd 20, Payne 19,  Alleyne 17, Siemon 6

Statistics - Play by Play
 

Chester Jets completed the second leg of what could be a clean sweep of all four domestic trophies by retaining the BBL Trophy at the NEC, overcoming a spirited display from Milton Keynes to earn a thrilling 90-89 victory.

Already the Cup holders, Robbie Peers' side were spurred by 38 points from diminutive point guard John Thomas who helped the Northgate outfit to race clear in the fourth quarter, the final's Most Valuable Player dazing the Lions with his tenacity to guide an often ragged Chester side to a successful defence of the prize.

"We have a great will to win," said Thomas. "Every time we play, you never know what will happen. If someone is off today, someone else would step up. Our team is like that. We don't have a strategy. We just play to win."

Chester took time to settle against a Lions team which was appearing in the first final in the franchise's long history. Nigel Lloyd, surely playing in his final major contest after 15 distinguished years in the league, slowed the tempo down in the underdogs favour and an early 0-7 run instilled his side with confidence.

Down 27-20 at the close of the first period, the Bletchey outfit refused to buckle. Sparked by Jermaine Brown who scored 18 of his team-high 26 points in the first half, Lions used a 0-7 clip late in the second to take a 34-36 edge before a similar burst from the Jets helped them into a 44-43 half-time advantage.

It was in the third though that Lloyd belied his 40 years to put Chester firmly on the rack. Pulling the strings, scoring and shutting Thomas down, a 2-15 run gave the Southern Conference squad a 59-67 cushion with 1:23 left in the period as the Jets became increasingly ragged.

As they showed in the Cup final however, write off Chester at your peril.

"As the game went on, in the fourth quarter we got stronger and our defence got tougher," Peers praised. 

"John was outstanding," he added, after watching Thomas, the supreme livewire, light up the court, scoring the final six of a 7-0 run to restore the Jets lead. Brown put Lions up 72-73 once more but it was to be the last time Chester would trail as spurts of first eight, then ten, unanswered points looked to have killed off the Lions challenge.

Up 90-77 with 1:11 remaining, we thought it was all over. Not quite.

Andrew Alleyne, Victor Payne and Lloyd led the final minute rally, Payne twice converting off steals to re-ignite the contest. Lloyd missed a three close to the end however and although the game's oldest showman fired a trey on the buzzer, it was not enough.

"I can honestly say we played as hard we we could," said the Barbadian. "Chester deserved it."

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