Towers end Sharks
treble hopes
Lee Ridley
London Towers became the first team to
qualify for the 1999 Budweiser Championship finals with a 85-78 win over
the Sheffield Sharks at Wembley.
Sheffield had never got past the semi final
stage of the Championships and were looking to complete a possible triple
having already won the League and Cup. However, London, who were seen as
the underdogs having been whitewashed by the Sharks this season, were also
looking for success after failing to win any silverware this season.
The game started with high intensity and
very little separated the two teams and half way through first quarter
the score was 14-14. However, inspired by 11 points from Malcolm Leak and
with a bit of help from Martin Henlan, both of whom controlled the game
early on, the Towers were able to pull away and take a 27-23 at the quarter
mark.
London's good play continued in the second
quarter but they were unable to shake off the Sharks and Sheffield capitalised
when Leak, Towers' main man, went to the bench with a back injury. At 38-34
with 5:00 on the clock, Chris Finch's men scored 12 of the next 16 points
to put the game into their favour at 42-46. Randy Duck and Michael Payne,
who had scored 14 points off the bench, then exchanged treys for each team
to end the half 45-49.
At the restart, there was still little
between the teams in this nip and tuck game. The game was tied at 51-51
with 8:13 on the clock and 55-55 with 6:08 on the clock before a
barren spell saw each team score just two points each in the next three
minutes. A spectacular dunk from Dwayne Morton regained advantage for London
at 61-57 and two more from him ended the third quarter at 65-61.
The first two minutes of the final period
once again saw each team score just two points each.
However, Towers looked the stronger team
as Duck and Henlan made it 74-68 with 6:00 on the clock. Sheffield then
called a time-out in an attempt to rectify the situation but to little
avail as the Londoners finally broke away and took complete control of
the ball game at 79-72. The Sharks then missed vital shots as they tried
to get back into the game, including many from the three point line, as
their dreams of a triple faded. Finch called a second time-out with 1:15
remaining but the damage had already been done. Terrell Myers did give
Sheffield some hope when he bagged a three to make it 84-75, his game best
28th point. However, he missed another three point attempt with 0:14 to
play and that spelt the end of his and the Sharks' season and sent the
Towers into the final.
Afterwards, Danny Lewis commented: "We
came here on fire. We had our backs to the wall and we had nothing to lose
and everything to gain. They'd won two trophies this year and were trying
to make it a treble. We just came out and gave everything we had. We didn't
save nothing for tomorrow."
Randy Duck, who led his side on 21,
said: "I've watched tape all week of Terrell and Conlan and all these guys
and everyone's giving them all the credit. I'm glad I have Danny for a
team-mate. I wouldn't trade him in for any of these other guys."
