A pair of threes scored by BJ Holmes then started Sharks on a 15-4 tear that left them ahead 28-18 early in the second quarter and from there the Sharks never looked back as they claimed a comfortable victory over a Phoenix side missing both Chez Marks and Jerome Gumbs.

All the Sharks players made it onto the scoresheet, with BJ Holmes, Olu Babalola and Demetrius Jemison all scoring 16 points to jointly lead the Sharks scorers.

Sharks enjoyed a great night from beyond the arc, making a total of 14 of 27 attempts from long range, with Micah Williams scoring all 15 of his points from long range.

The other BBL Trophy semi-final proved to be a far closer affair. Jelson Homes DMU Leicester Riders claimed an 82-73 victory over Worcester Wolves and Riders will have home advantage in Saturday’s second leg.

After a first quarter where neither side led by more than 3 points, the final 30 minutes saw both sides put together a number of runs, though neither side was ever able to pull ahead.

The key run proved to be a 13-2 break sparked by Zaire Taylor making an ‘and-one’ play. Taylor had 2 assists in the run before Drew Sullivan’s three-pointer at the end of the run put Riders ahead 66-60 with the first basket of the final stanza.

Wolves briefly took that lead down to just a single point but a 7-0 run near the end of the game put Riders up 8 before Pavol Losonsky scored the final basket of the game, draining a 3-pointer to extend the Riders lead to 9 points ahead of Saturday’s second leg.

In the only BBL Championship game of the night, Newcastle Eagles defeated Mersey Tigers 100-57 to maintain their BBL Championship title challenge. That left them second in the table with 40 points, just behind Riders who have the same number of points but also have a game in hand.

Eagles dominated from the first quarter, where they outscored Tigers 35-10. Joe Chapman scored 15 of the Eagles’ first quarter points, making two threes as he did so.

They maintained that throughout the game and while the Tigers were able to compete more effectively in the second half, they were unable to match the Eagles.

Joe Chapman led all scorers for Eagles, finishing with 26 points, in addition to 4 steals. Charles Smith, Darius Defoe and Kareem Maddox all had double-doubles for the Eagles. For Tigers, their scorers were led by Chris Bigley’s 11 points.

 

Story – BBL

Photos – M Photography

 

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