The game produced the largest ever winning margin in a Cup Final and Tigers the most points by a winning side.

Everton’s Andrew Smith was the star man – he was named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) thanks to his double double of 26 points and 10 rebounds, plus 4 assists, 2 blocked shots and 1 steal.

Despite the final score, there was actually very little between the two teams in the opening exchanges; Tigers just shading things. Plymouth’s first and only lead came after four minutes at 7-6, but Everton hit back with a 7-1 run to lead 13-8 and would not relinquish that advantage.

It was 20-11 going into the second quarter and Raiders kept it down to a single-figure margin for the first two minutes of the quarter. The score was 25-17 to Everton, but then the Tigers mounted a charge, bagging 11 points in quick succession to lead 36-17. The points were shared between Marcus Bailey, Andre Smith and Richard Midgley and it set Tigers on a roll. By half-time the lead was 50-22 to Everton.

The third period got no better for Plymouth, who were without DeAntoine Beasley, as they could only manage eight points in the quarter. Everton led 72-28 at the end of the third stanza.

In the final quarter, Plymouth restored some pride, scoring 21 points as Gaylon Moore, Andrew Lasker and Allister Gall stepped up. However, it was not enough to prevent Everton from claiming the first piece of silverware of the season.

While Andre Smith and Marcus Bailey led all scorers with 26 points each for Everton, tribute should be paid to each and every Tigers player. Worthy of note are Richard Midgley who went for 16 points 5 rebounds 5 assists and 2 steals. BBL veteran Chris Haslam put in a fine performance pulling down 10 rebounds to go with 3 steals. Gaylon Moore added 19 for Plymouth but no other Raider would get into double figures.

SHAFTY’S UN-OFFICIAL PHOTO ALBUM

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