BBL Championship Play-off Quarter Final, First Leg
Newcastle Eagles 85 (18,50,63) (Maddox 19, Smith 18, Chapman 14)
One Health Sharks Sheffield 70 (20,28,46) (Jemison 18, Tuck 17, Lewis 13)
The Newcastle Eagles took a giant step into the semi-finals of the BBL Championship Play-offs as they secured an 85-70 victory at Sport Central on Fridya night.
The second leg will be played on Monday night at the EIS, Sheffield and the Eagles will fancy their chances of progressing through to the Final Four. The home side started the stronger side as they opened the game with an 11-3 burst to lead with three minutes gone in the contest.
A Joe Chapman three-pointer extended their lead out to nine points at 14-5 midway through the period, but the Sharks finished the quarter the stronger as a Demetrius Jemison basket sparked a 15-4 tear to end the first quarter leading by two points at 18-20.
In the second period, an Olu Babalola free-throw kept the Sharks ahead by a single point at 22-23. This was the last time that the visitors would lead in the contest however as a Darius Defoe basket sparked a 14-2 tear to take the score out to 36-25 midway through the quarter.
The Eagles continued to extend their lead throughout the remainder of the half as they restricted the Sharks to just three further points in the final four and a half minutes while bagging 14 points of their own to head into the locker rooms leading 50-28 at the half.
In the second half, a Damon Huffman basket gave the Eagles their biggest lead of the game at 24 points with the score at 54-30 with three minutes gone in the third period, but the Sharks kept themselves in with a chance of closing the gap as they spent the remainder of the quarter trying desperately to get back into the contest.
As the quarter drew to a close, Nick Lewis hit a three-pointer with the final shot of the period to trim the deficit back to 17 points at 63-46 heading into the final stanza.
In the final period, the Sharks tried desperately to get themselves back into the contest, and managed to close the gap to nine points at 77-68 with a minute remaining in the game, but that was as close as they would get as the Eagles held on for the all-important victory and head into Monday’s second leg with a strong advantage.
Kareem Maddox led all scorers in the game with 19 points for the Eagles, while Jemison led the Sharks with 18 points personal.
BBL Championship Play-off Quarter Final, First Leg
London Lions 68 (18,38,53) (Jackman 20, Brown 11, Ogedengbe 10)
Jelson Homes DMU Leicester Riders 70 (17,30,50) (Couisnard 17, Rowe 16, Taylor 11)
The opening quarter saw both sides trading baskets throughout the majority of the quarter with the home side maintaining a slender lead on a couple of different occasions. Four points from Anthony Rowe saw the Riders take the lead at 16-17 with 24 seconds remaining in the period, but an Orlan Jackman basket on the buzzer handed the Lions an 18-17 lead at the end of the opening stanza.
In the second period, another Rowe basket kept the Riders within a single point at 21-20 early in the quarter. A three pointer from Mike Martin sparked the Lions into life as they rattled off an impressive 13-0 burst to take the score out to 36-22 with two minutes left in the half. The Riders closed the half out with an 8-2 tear to trim the deficit before the half back to eight points to head into the locker rooms trailing 38-30 at the half.
In the second half, the Lions kept their noses in front for the vast majority of the third period, but the Riders were not going to be blown away as they kept themselves in the contest. An Orlan Jackman basket gave the Lions a seven-point lead at 51-44 with four minutes remaining in the third period, but yet another Rowe bucket sparked the Riders into action with six points without reply to get back to within a point at 51-50. A Joel Barkers basket in the final seconds for the Lions saw them heading into the final stanza leading 53-50.
In the final period, the visitors bagged the first seven points of the quarter to put themselves in front at 53-57. The Riders kept themselves in front and a Jay Couisnard three-pointer helped them extend their lead out to six points at 58-64 midway through the final quarter, but the Lions kept themselves in the contest and four points from Tayo Ogedengbe saw the home side trim the deficit to just a single point at at 66-67 with 1:12 remaining in the game.
An Andrew Sullivan three-pointer with eight seconds left put the Riders in control, but a Laurent Irish basket with four seconds remaining got the Lions to within two points, but it will be the Riders who lead going into the second leg in less than 24 hours time.
Couisnard led the scoring for the Riders with 17 points in the victory, but it was Jackman’s 20 points for the Lions that was the game-high scoring mark on the night.
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