BBL Trophy - Quarter-Finals (Coventry)

Milton Keynes  68   (19,34,57) Jermaine Brown 22, Victor Payne 16, Andrew Alleyne 15
Thames Valley  67  (13,35,55) Shawn Jamison 15, Eric Burks 12

Milton Keynes Lions squeezed into the semi-finals of the BBL Trophy in the first of the last four ties at the Coventry Skydome with an 68-67 defeat of Thames Valley. However the tie ended in controversy when ex-Tigers' centre Jason Siemon deflected Thames Valley's last, potentially game-winning,  shot in the final seconds. After a lengthy discussion, officials adjudged it had not been a goal-tend to allow the Lions to advance.

Lions started the brighter, bagging nine of the opening eleven points and leading 19-13 at the end of the first quarter. Tigers' first lead came with 2.34 left on the clock in the second quarter - a Kelvin Robinson bucket completing a 7-0 Tigers tear that put them 31-30 ahead. 

A 13-2 Tigers run in the third gave Tigers the biggest lead of the game at 55-44, but Lions responded with a 13-0 tear to close out the quarter leading 57-55 and set up a tense finale. In the end, Jason Siemon scored the crucial basket three seconds from time to take the score out to 68-67 to Lions and when Barry Bowman's three point effort on the buzzer would not go for Tigers, it was time up for Paul James' side. 

Lions' new signing Jermaine Brown led all scorers with 22 points
 

Chester Jets 91  (20,46,74) John Thomas 36, John McCord 20
Newcastle Eagles 87 (19,43,64) TJ Walker 25, Shawn Myers 23, Malcolm Leak 21

Trophy holders Chester Jets survived a nasty bout of foul trouble, and the tenacity of Newcastle, to book their place in the semi-finals. The tie was finely balanced in the closing minute after the Eagles, last year's runners-up, had rallied from 10 down to level. However a dubious unsportsmanlike foul called on Jeremy Hyatt with 12 seconds left allowed Jets oustanding dynamo John Thomas to seal the tie from the charity stripe.

"We were fortunate one or two things went our way," said Jets coach Robbie Peers. "If you want to be a good team, you have to win close games."

Newcastle had promised to steal in front throughout but after Chester edged a tight first stanza, they only twice briefly fell in arrears as the Tyneside outfit failed to capitalise from the foul line where they made only 50%. Malcolm Leak inspired a 13-2 second period run which put Newcastle in front but the Cup winners raced back with a trey from Mike Redd on the buzzer leaving the Northgate outfit 46-43 up at half-time.

When Thomas picked up his fourth foul shortly after firing three of his five three-pointers in succession, you wondered whether Jets 61-51 cushion would be enough. Bravely however, Peers left his point guard in the contest and there he remained, leading the fightback when a 7-0 final period burst from Tony Garbelotto's side helped the Eagles to gain a 85-86 advantage with 1:30 left. 

It was not enough though, Thomas burying another long-range effort to decisively re-assert Chester's superiority.
 

Brighton Bears  83 (A. White 22)
Kinder London Towers 89 (J. White 25, Myers 22)

Brighton Bears couldn't buy a three. Terrell Myers and John White couldn't miss them. Towers' American star served up five of them, more than Brighton combined as London eased into the last four with an 89-83 victory on the back of White's 25 points haul. 

Try as they might, Nick Nurse's men failed to respond adequately after the capital outfit went in front midway through the second period, never trailing by more than nine points but never stepping up enough to erase the deficit.

The Londoners struggled inside during the first half against Brighton's muscle but they took a 44-41 lead into the interval. After that, Myers and White proved their mettle as Brighton struggled to convert from long range, the cushion for David Lindstrom's men peaking at 74-65 in the opening minute of the fourth stanza.

Randy Duck, largely anonymous offensively, briefly handed the south coast side some hope to trim the deficit to 81-78 in the final moments but John White made the game safe to set up a semi meeting with Milton Keynes.
 

Westfield Sharks Sheffield 78     (26,43,60)       (Phoenix 21, Scantlebury/Reinking 15)
Leopards 83 (23,48,67)       (Alderson 23, Kimbrough 17, Robinson 15)

Leopards Kool Kats made it to the semi-finals of the BBL Trophy, thanks to an 83-78 success over Westfield Sharks Sheffield at the Skydome Arena in Coventry on Sunday. 

After trading baskets in the opening minutes, Leopards pulled out an 18-11 lead, before Sharks rallied with the final nine points of the quarter to lead 26-23. Leopards then enjoyed an 11-5 second quarter tear, helping them to a 48-43 midway advantage. That was a lead that Leopards extended with a 10-3 third quarter tear to take a double digit lead at 58-48, although Sharks cut the deficit to seven points by the end of the period at 67-60. Sharks rallied to level the score at 73-73 with five minutes of the game left and went on to take a 78-75 lead with five straight points. However, Leopards showed their strength down the stretch, scoring the final eight points of the game to claim the win.

Leopards' star, Rico Alderson led all scorers with 23 points.
 
 

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