Tonight has seen key results for the Sheffield Sharks, who bounced back from a 98-89 double overtime loss against the Marshall MK Lions last week, and the Everton Tigers, who sealed the head to head win record over the Guildford Heat with an 84-72 win at home.
The Tigers got off to a great start, keeping their opponents scoreless for the first four minutes, whilst scoring ten points themselves to lead 10-0 [read more]
Tonight has seen key results for the Sheffield Sharks, who bounced back from a 98-89 double overtime loss against the Marshall MK Lions last week, and the Everton Tigers, who sealed the head to head win record over the Guildford Heat with an 84-72 win at home.
The Tigers got off to a great start, keeping their opponents scoreless for the first four minutes, whilst scoring ten points themselves to lead 10-0. Chad McKnight got his team off the mark with an easy bucket inside, and the Heat began to claw their way into the Tigers' ten point lead, only for the Tigers to continue to dominate and go 19-9 up with just under two minutes left. They then outscored their opponents 8-3 to close out the quarter 27-12 to the better.
The second stanza was a similar story, as the Tigers went on a 9-0 run to start with. The Heat then cut the gap to twenty points thanks to three charity shots from 'LA' Aaron Drakeford. The gap remained between 20 and 25 points for the rest of the quarter, and the half time score read 52-32 in the Tigers favour.
The Heat being outscored 21-16 by the Tigers proved to be influential in the context of the game, as they ended the third quarter 73-48 up, with a huge mountain to climb in the fourth for the Heat, if they were to win the game. Once the gap reached 30 points at 80-50, it was always going to be a struggle. The Heat scored the next nine points in the ball game and subsequently completed a 13-2 run to finish the match, but the Tigers were already home and dry with an 84-72 win the end result.
They were led by Jerome Gumbs, who had an impressive outing with 27 points to his name, Olu Babalola stepped up with 23 points and young Brit Andrew Thomson had 12. The Heat were led in vain by Julius Joseph, who had 24 points.
Crucial to the Sharks victory tonight was their run in the third quarter, racing from a 52-42 advantage at half time to be up 83-52, a devastating ten minutes where player-coach Atiba Lyons' decision to put out a smaller line up proved to be the right one. Despite the Jets bringing it back to 86-70 with a whole six minutes left in the game, the Sharks outscoring them 31-10 in the third proved too much for Paul Smith's side, as they were never quite able to recover once the Sharks put their starters back on in the fourth quarter. Sheffield were led once again by Mike Cook with 32 points, fellow American Ryan Patton shot the lights out for his 20 points, and Tafari Toney rounded out the top three scorers for the Sharks with 17 points. The Jets were led by an impressive performance from rookie point guard Paul Peterson (24 points), Colin O'Reilly had 22 along with 11 rebounds, and Frank Phifer bagged 11 points in a night that Cheshire will want to forget.
he Everton Tigers will be relieved that they have one head-to-head record over a team already this season, and that team is the Guildford Heat, who after beating the Tigers earlier this season to make a statement under new player-coach Chad McKnight, fell by 84 points to 72 tonight at the Greenbank Sports Academy in Liverpool.
The Tigers got off to a great start, keeping their opponents scoreless for the first four minutes, whilst scoring ten points themselves to lead 10-0. McKnight got his team off the mark with an easy bucket inside, and the Heat began to claw their way into the Tigers' ten point lead, only for the Tigers to continue to dominate and go 19-9 up with just under two minutes left. They then outscored their opponents 8-3 to close out the quarter 27-12 to the better.
The second stanza was a similar story, as the Tigers went on a 9-0 run to start with. The Heat then cut the gap to twenty points thanks to three charity shots from 'LA' Aaron Drakeford. The gap remained between 20 and 25 points for the rest of the period, despite two more free throws from Drakeford, and scores from Kenny Langhorne, three points from Mike Martin, and a triple from Julius Joseph. The half time score read 52-32 in the Sharks favour.
The Heat being outscored 21-16 by the Tigers proved to be influential in the context of the game, as they ended the third quarter 73-48 up, with a huge mountain to climb in the fourth for the Heat, if they were to win the game. Joseph continued to show his scoring prowess, with a quick basket in answer to scores from Kevin Bell and Jerome Gumbs from the Tigers, but once the gap reached 30 points at 80-50, it was always going to be a struggle. The Heat scored the next nine points in the ball game and subsequently completed a 13-2 run to finish the match, but the Tigers were already home and dry with an 84-72 win the end result.
Everton were led by Jerome Gumbs, who had an impressive outing with 27 points to his name, Olu Babalola stepped up with 23 points and young Brit Andrew Thomson had 12. The Heat were led in vain by Julius Joseph, who had 24 points.
e Sheffield Sharks bounced back from a disappointing performance last weekend in a double overtime 98-89 loss to Marshall MK Lions, to beat the Cheshire Jets tonight 97-76 at home. The Sharks went on an entertaining run in the third quarter, racing from a 52-42 advantage at half time to be up 83-52, a devastating ten minutes where player-coach Atiba Lyons' decision to put out a smaller line up proved to be the right one. Despite the Jets bringing it back to 86-70 with a whole six minutes left in the game, the Sharks outscoring them 31-10 in the third proved too much for Paul Smith's side, as they were never quite able to recover once the Sharks put their starters back on in the fourth quarter.
Sheffield were led once again by the powerful Mike Cook with 32 points, fellow American Ryan Patton shot the lights out for his 20 points, and Tafari Toney rounded out the top three scorers for the Sharks with 17 points. The Jets were led by an impressive performance from rookie point guard Paul Peterson (24 points), Colin O'Reilly had 22 along with 11 rebounds, and Frank Phifer bagged 11 points in a night that Cheshire will want to forget.
Lyons said he could not have asked for a better way for his side to bounce back from last weekend's frustrations, and praised the Jets on their fightback in the second half: 'The Jets made a great run in the fourth, and credit to them for doing so' he said: 'They bought it back to 18 points with six minutes left, so there was definetly everything to play for.'
The 6'6'' Forward is also pleased with the versatility his side displayed tonight, claiming that injuries may have been a blessing in disguise in this sense. He added: 'We went with a smaller line up in the third quarter, with many of our bench players on court, but the injuries we have had already this season mean that we have had to adapt, and I now feel confident with any five players on court.'
Head to Head at Stake - Nov 6, 2009 (by Andy Webb)
As the Everton Tigers and the Guildford Heat meet at the Greenbank Sports Academy tonight, the head to head record between these teams in the Championship is already at stake. Tigers boss Tony Garbelotto had praise for the work of new Heat player-coach Chad McKnight, and feels that his side will be better prepared at home to take on the Heat [read more]
As the Everton Tigers and the Guildford Heat meet at the Greenbank Sports Academy tonight, the head to head record between these teams in the Championship is already at stake. Tigers boss Tony Garbelotto had praise for the work of new Heat player-coach Chad McKnight, and feels that his side will be better prepared at home to take on the Heat. The Tigers avenged the 82-74 loss against the Heat earlier this season, which put them into third spot, with an 85-79 win on 11th October at Liverpools Echo Arena. The Heat hold the all-time record at 5-4, and Garbelotto said the following on this important game: I am so impressed by what Chad has done with this group of players. In the last game at their place they just had more will and desire to win down the stretch, but I expect another tough game against them.
The Team GB Assistant Coach also stressed the fact that the game is a must-win for his side. He added: It is a must win game for us, as crazy as this sounds, as we will have the season head to head win count against them if we win tomorrow. At present, we seem to be more controlled at home than on the road and I hope that this will continue on Friday.
Tonights second BBL Championship game is between the Sheffield Sharks and the Cheshire Jets. They have already met this season, a 79-62 Sharks victory being the result, and the last time the Jets beat the Sharks was back in November 2008, via an 86-82 win at the Northgate Arena, the Jets' home court.
The Sharks travel to Newcastle tomorrow to take on the Newcastle Eagles, and both teams have recently suffered defeats, with the Sharks losing in overtime 98-89 to the Marshall MK Lions. The Eagles are no strangers to defeats in overtime this season though though, as they went down earlier in the season to Guildford Heat 102-98, and then last week lost to the Airwaves Plymouth Raiders, who picked up their first league win with a 96-95 victory.
After facing each other tonight, the Heat and the Tigers will be in action again on Sunday, as the Heat travel to Glasgow whilst the Tigers look for a win at in-form Plymouth. Like Tony Garbelotto , Rocks player-coach Sterling Davis is clearly impressed with the work of Chad McKnight in his rookie season as a BBL coach: Guildford are playing really good basketball right now as indicative of their record he said: I think they have a balance of new players and veteran leaders in the likes of Julius Joseph and Mike Martin. Chad McKnight is doing a great job in his first season he added.
Coaches Confident At Home - Nov 5, 2009 (by Andy Webb)
Newcastle Eagles player-coach Fabulous Flournoy is brimming with confidence about his sides chances against Cheshire Jets this Sunday, the third and final Cup game of the weekend. The Eagles welcome the Jets to their home court on Sunday evening for a 5.30pm tip off, and Flournoy is relishing the chance to get his side back on point, despite being unable to play himself due to a broken finger [read more]
Newcastle Eagles player-coach Fabulous Flournoy is brimming with confidence about his sides chances against Cheshire Jets this Sunday, the third and final Cup game of the weekend. The Eagles welcome the Jets to their home court on Sunday evening for a 5.30pm tip off, and Flournoy is relishing the chance to get his side back on point, despite being unable to play himself due to a broken finger.
He said: We are always pretty good at bouncing back from defeats, as we showed by beating Everton after losing in overtime to Guildford, and although the game against Cheshire will be tough because of a smaller bench, we have only lost four times in the last three seasons at home, so we would challenge anyone to try and beat us on our home court.
Echoing his sentiments is the coach of the Jelson Homes DMU Leicester Riders, Rob Paternostro. The Riders had a mixed weekend last weekend, with an emphatic win against the Guildford Heat at home followed by a 113-111 loss at Worcester, whom they face on Saturday night at home in the BBL Cup. Paternostro was quick to state the importance of the game being at home, and the role that the fans play at the John Sandford Sports Centre, but also asked for more consistency from his side: We are struggling with consistency right now, from quarter to quarter, half to half and game to game. Its early in the season, so hopefully with more games we can become more consistent he said: This weekend is huge for us with a big Cup game at home versus Worcester. It will be great for us to play in our building he added: The atmosphere in there this year has been brilliant. We feel very comfortable playing there and I know our guys are looking forward to that game.
Although the Airwaves Plymouth Raiders have only walked out of a game as winners once in the league this season, they will be looking to continue their fine Cup form when they welcome the Marshall MK Lions to the Plymouth Pavilions on Saturday evening. They won their first Cup game against the PAWS London Capital by 85 points to 80 earlier this season, and also come into the game off the back of their first league win, a 96-95 overtime victory against Newcastle.
Their opponents, the Lions, also went into overtime last weekend, as they beat the Sheffield Sharks 98-89 at Bletchley Leisure Centre. They also beat the Essex Pirates 62-57 on Saturday and their success continued into the week, as Vince Macaulay was named Molten BBL Coach of the Month. Riders point guard Tack Minor also saw his blistering form rewarded with the Molten BBL Player of the Month Award.
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