Eurobasket.com

Jets clinch final four spot

By Dave Ryan
Dec. 15, 2004

Chester Jets are the first team to qualify for the BBL Trophy semi-finals at the MetroRadio Arena in Newcastle after the weekends games. The Trophy holders for the last four years secured their berth with a resounding 110-67 success over Leicester Riders on Sunday night. This was the case as Sheffield Sharks only beat the Riders by four points, 73-77 in a close game at the John Sandford the night before.

In Group South 1 London Towers are in the ascendancy after beating Milton Keynes Lions, a 94-95 overtime road win was secured on the buzzer with a Jerry Williams basket.

The South 2 Group is also on a knife-edge. The Bears' destiny is in their own hands, last year's finalists thrashed their South-Coast rivals Plymouth Raiders at the Brighton Centre on Saturday night. Steve Lepore (196-G/F-80, college: Wake Forest) was unstoppable as they won 95-55. The Raiders must beat Thames Valley Tigers to have a chance of going through and then the group is decided at the Plymouth Pavilions on 29 December.

Scottish Rocks played their final home game, defeating Teesside Mohawks by 117-75. However, their two losses to Newcastle mean that the Eagles are firm favourites to progress with both of their games against the Mohawks still to play.

By the end of the weekend there had been a bit of re-sorting at the top end of the BBL Championship table. London Towers have held onto their two point lead out in front courtesy of a significant 81-75 victory at Crystal Palace over Championship rivals TCS Chester Jets.

After a close first quarter the Jets put together a strong second quarter outscoring their hosts 29-13 to take a 48-33 lead into the locker room at the half time interval. Towers came out firing on all cylinders in the third and posted a 29-14 third quarter to level the game at three quarter time. Once inside the final stanza the Towers got their noses in front thanks to a 6-0 burst inspired by former Leopard Rod Brown and held on for the win. Jets’ Trey Moore led all scorers with 27 points.

The Jets are now shoved down into fourth place after wins this week for both Sheffield Sharks and Brighton Bears. The Sharks moved into second place after beating the bottom side Birmingham Bullets at Ponds Forge on Sunday evening. The Sharks set the tone from the outset as Sterling Davis opened with two three-pointers in the first 45 seconds for a 6-0 lead. From this point onwards the Sharks never trailed, holding 12 point leads at the end of the first and at half-time before extending this in the second half. The closest Bullets got was to within six at 34-28, this courtesy of a 15-4 run across the end of the first and start of the second, Lataryl Williams and Adam Williams combined for 13 of those points. However for the majority of the game the Sharks held a comfortable double digit lead. Sterling Davis had another outstanding game for the home side, he netted 25 points and pulled down 13 rebounds.

In midweek the Bears won north of the border by just one point against Scottish Phoenix Honda Record Rocks. The 84-85 scoreline came thanks to a Yorrick Williams score with 10 seconds remaining to win the game.

Newcastle Eagles have edged closer to that leading group of four teams after two Championship victories this week. After stuttering form of late they looked solid on Saturday night as they soundly beat Birmingham Bullets 78-101. The Eagles broke the game open with a 16-4 burst in the second quarter giving them a double digit advantage. After Bullets had closed the gap in the third to 60-53 the Eagles, led by TJ Walker who scored 14 points in the quarter, posted a 16-2 run to close out the stanza and make the game safe at 76-55. On a bright note for the Bullets Englishman Stephen Barnes led their scoring with 22 points.

This was preceded by Friday night's 73-68 home win over Plymouth Raiders, The Eagles looked to have the points in the bag leading 61-51 early in the final quarter only for Raiders, led by a trio of three pointers by Allister Gall, to rattle off 14 points without reply to take a 65-61 lead. Three pointers from Andrew Bridge and Jeremy Hyatt however nudged the hosts back in front and they held on for the crucial win. Eagles Jeremy Hyatt marked his return to form with 33 points.

Thames Valley Tigers continued their impressive run of form notching up their third consecutive victory with a tense 86-84 success over the Milton Keynes Lions. After a close opening three quarter it was the Tigers who held a slender lead going in to the closing stages. Josiah James, who led all scorers with 28 points, bagged 1 out of 2 free throws with 8s remaining to give the hosts a 86-84 advantage with 8s remaining. Lions Kingsley Hudson missed a buzzer beating three pointer which would have stolen the win for the Lions