Eagles Advance to Final as Riders Destroy Poor Sharks

The Jelson Homes DMU Leicester Riders have taken a massive step towards the BBL Cup final after winning their semi-final first leg, on the road, by 70-90 against the One Health Sharks Sheffield. Jay Couisnard was the inspiration with 21 points and 8 rebounds, supported by 14 each for Anthony Rowe and Zaire Taylor. Mike Tuck led the hosts with 17 points.

The Riders started well and held an early 0-4 lead, although the Sharks came back, inspired by Micah Williams’ three-pointer, to lead 7-6. The Riders recovered from their wobble and dominated the remainder of the first period, and the game, sparked by Taylor’s triple. Yorick Williams matched that to cap a 10-2 run for a 9-16 lead that became 13-18 by the end of the quarter.

The Sharks started the second much stronger and tied the game at 22 on a 9-4 run that saw a Tuck three-pointer and was capped by two baskets from Demetrius Jemison. But again they failed to maintain their momentum as the Riders responded with a 14-2 surge to take a commanding double-digit lead; at one point Couisnard scored 6 points in 30 seconds in that run, twice stealing the ball from Micah Williams and BJ Holmes. Yorick Williams scored another 5 points in a row before the half was done, and the Riders’ high-scoring quarter finished with Taylor being fouled by Andrew Bridge in the act of shooting a buzzer-beating three-pointer, making all three free-throws to go in at the break on a high with a score of 32-48.

And that momentum continued in earnest after the break during a third quarter that saw the Riders extend their lead to a massive 30 points. Couisnard’s three-pointer got them started with a 7-2 run straight out of the blocks, but they did most of the damage inside the final 30 seconds as Drew Sullivan and Taylor connected on consecutive three-pointers to make the lead 43-73 heading into the fourth quarter.

Damage limitation was the best that the Sharks could hope for, and that’s exactly what they managed to do by winning the fourth quarter by 10 points. They initially fell further behind before a 9-3 burst made the score 51-77 with Holmes and Olu Babalola making three-pointers to end the spell. The Riders pushed it back out over 30 with another Sullivan three, but the Sharks scored 16 points in the final three minutes to narrow the gap. That included another three-pointer for Babalola before Micah Williams scored 5 in a row; the latter connected again from beyond the arc inside the last 30 seconds to make the final score 70-90, the Riders still holding a commanding lead to defend at home in the second leg.

The Eagles made it to the final once more after a pulsating overtime victory in their semi-final second leg with the UCP Marjon Plymouth Raiders. The Raiders won 83-91 on the night but that was not enough to overturn a 17-point deficit from the first leg, although they were up 72-89 after the regulation four quarters to force overtime. The Eagles were led 19 from Charles Smith and 18 from Damon Huffman, meaning they had 48 and 47 respectively over the two legs, while Kareem Maddox had a massive double-double of 14 points and 21 rebounds. Matt Schneck beat that for the visitors, with 28 points and 16 rebounds.

The Raiders came in the right frame of mind to overturn what was a large deficit and they led from the outset and throughout. Their lead began to threaten Newcastle when it became 14 points, and thereby a one possession game on aggregate, on Colin O’Reilly’s three-pointer in the second quarter, during which they held the hosts to just 10 points. But the Eagles steadied the ship and took an 8 points aggregate lead into the decisive quarter and a 10 point advantage into the final five minutes.

But that was blown away as the Raiders scored 20 points to end the game. The first time that they levelled it on aggregate came with 1.52 to play after they scored 5 in a row with Bell making 4 of those. Huffman responded for the Eagles and Maddox made one of two at the line for 72-86 on the night, meaning that it was still a one possession game on aggregate. That was decisive as Bell netted a three-pointer to tie it up with 29 seconds remaining. Chapman has a chance to win it for the Eagles at the end of regulation time, but his three-pointer missed.

The Eagles showed their credentials in the overtime period and, when their backs were against the wall, dug out a dominant spell to win 11-2 in overtime, their defence ultimately winning the game for them.

In the BBL Championship, there were wins for the Glasgow Rocks and Cheshire Phoenix on a night when all four games were won by the away team.

In the BBL Championship, the Cheshire Phoenix dominated from start to finish to win a North West derby 65-92, completing a 3-0 season sweep over their rivals. Alif Bland and Jerome Gumbs each scored 22 points for the victors, the former adding 8 rebounds and the latter 7; Gabriele Haskins scored 21 points.

The Phoenix did all of the damage in the first half, racing out to a 4-17 lead behind Phil Brandreth’s early 5 points as well as consecutive scores from Gumbs and a Chris Pearce three-pointer. They started the second stanza with the first 8 points – 5 for Gumbs and a Haskins triple – and the lead was through 20 points after only 11 minutes of the game at 6-27. They led 22-50 at the half and, despite the Tigers winning the second half by one, the game was already settled.

Finally, the Glasgow Rocks have made it five BBL Championship wins in a row after using a crucial third quarter spell to beat the Manchester Giants 77-83 in the North West. Donald Robinson dominated the game with 25 points, supported by 11 each from Sterling Davis, EJ Harrison and Gareth Murray. Devan Bailey shot 4/4 three-pointers to lead the Giants with 21 points.

The Giants led early on after a 17-2 push in the first quarter and early second quarter scores to lead 29-19. But they were pegged back by Owen McNally’s three-pointer that sparked an 8-0 run for the Rocks and began to turn the game around. A 7-2 run up to the half time break included a Johnson dunk and Harrison three-pointer inside the final minute that gave them the edge at 38-40. Their decisive runs came in the third quarter as Brice Fantazia’s three-pointer gave the Rocks a 51-55 lead in what became an 8-0 tear, with Fantazia adding three more, and they pushed on with another 8-2 tear to take a decisive 55-68 lead into the fourth quarter.

The Giants had a good push late on, courtesy of a thrilling 12-2 surge over the space of four minutes. The run was started by 7 points in a row from Gill and capped with a James Jones three-pointer, seemingly giving the hosts the momentum heading into the final minute with an unlikely comeback on the cards. But the Rocks stayed calm and Robinson and Harrison settled the game from the free-throw line by making 5/6 between them down the stretch.

Story – BBL

Photos – MPhotography