Glasgow Rocks are through to the BBL Cup semi-finals after eliminating holders Leicester Riders with an 85-84 win in the quarter-finals.
Leicester came back from 12 points down and led with 9 seconds left, when Great Britain international Kieron Achara threw up a three-pointer that banked in on the buzzer.
Achara ended with a game-high 28 points as Glasgow now face Bristol Flyers in the semi-finals. Tyler Bernardini led Leicester with 26 points.
CHAMPIONSHIP
Newcastle Eagles remain top of the BBL table after they travelled the length of England to defeat the Plymouth Raiders 88-82 thanks to 24 points from veteran Charles Smith.
After being pegged back to a single-point advantage and the sold-out Plymouth Pavilions in full voice, Smith drained two straight three-pointers to silence the Raiders support and seal the win for Newcastle.
Plymouth’s nightmare season continues, as a talented array of players is only good enough for a 3-8 record.
Worcester stay in second, after a late tip in by Chavis Holmes handed them a vital 78-76 win at the Sheffield Sharks.
The second-chance finish off the Jamal Williams miss with just five seconds remaining was the only score of the final 1:43 after BJ Holmes had tied things up at 76-76. Nick Lewis attempted a triple at the buzzer to snatch the win for the hosts but Wolves hung on for a sixth straight league win.
Alex Owumi led the Wolves with 24 points.
With Leicester in Cup action, Cheshire Phoenix narrowed the gap between themselves in fourth place and the Riders in third by beating Manchester Giants 99-82 in the local derby.
An impressive personal haul of 29 points and 18 rebounds from Demond Watt improves Cheshire’s record in the BBL to 7-5. Manchester, who were led by 20 points each from Stefan Gill and Callum Jones drop to 5-6.
AT THE BOTTOM…
The bottom two enjoyed winning weekends as Leeds Force and Surrey United picked up wins, but despite still staying where they are in the standings, they narrowed the gap the teams above them.
The Force defeated the Durham Wildcats 70-62 for their second league win of the season, while Surrey United beat Bristol Flyers 91-74 as the Flyers learned that they will be without leading scorer Doug Herring Jr for up to six months with a knee injury that he sustained against Cheshire last week.
IT GOT BETTER FOR DURHAM
Despite losing to Leeds, Durham were able to pick up a big 80-73 home win over London Lions.
Lee Davie’s men climbed into the BBL Play-off positions with their fifth league win of the season as they finished well to see off Lions, who looked like making a late surge having been second best since half-time.
Zaire Taylor cut the hosts’ advantage to four with 2:17 remaining before Fran Urli and John Puk combined for the next six points to see Wildcats over the line.
Urli racked up 26 points, which was a game-high. Zaire Taylor hit 24 in reply for London.
