Home Domestic Leagues 2014-15 British Basketball League round up (week 19)

2014-15 British Basketball League round up (week 19)

While a clean sweep of honours for Newcastle Eagles is potentially still a way off, the North East side moved a step closer at the weekend after the BBL Cup champions booked their Trophy semi-final berth and improved their standing at the top of the championship.

Eagles’ Trophy clash at Glasgow Rocks saw Fab Flournoy’s side continue their recent dominance over the Scottish outfit with a comfortable 88-70 win at the Emirates Arena, which will host next month’s final.

Andre Jones continued his fine performances of late with 20 points for the Eagles, who beat the Rocks for the twelfth game in a row.

Awaiting them in the semi-final will be Plymouth Raiders, who progressed after a hard-fought 86-77 victory over Surrey United, behind 18 points from Gareth Murray.

“It was a good victory and it was always going to be tough because for Surrey it was really only one of the things they had left to play for,” said Raiders’ coach Jay Marriott.

“Surrey played really physical and we had to grind out the win at the end, but I thought as a team we played great.”

“Jordan Clarke came up with another double-double, but credit also to Gareth, Josh Wilcher and Ben Mockford who stepped up for us when Pierre Hampton went down injured at half-time.”

In the championship, Newcastle still only lead by two points, but are firmly in the driving seat after they beat title rivals Leicester Riders, while Worcester Wolves lost at Cheshire Phoenix.

Friday’s night clash between the Eagles and Riders had been eagerly anticipated, but it was only ever going to end one way after Newcastle scored 37 points in the second quarter.

Darius Defoe led the Eagles with 22 points and 11 rebounds as Newcastle won 104-81, but the Riders bounced back Saturday with a 98-85 victory over Sheffield Sharks.

Tyler Bernardini’s 25 points led the way as the Riders overcame a determined Sharks side whose top man was Mike Tuck with 24.

Worcester Wolves began the weekend well with a 74-48 win over Bristol Flyers, behind 20 points from Wolves’ captain Alex Owumi, but they came unstuck at the Northgate Arena on Sunday evening, losing 89-75 to Cheshire Phoenix.

Demond Watt (25), Dustin Salisbery (23) and Taylor King (22) combined for 70 points as the Phoenix took control in the second half, a result which gives Cheshire the head-to-head between the teams.

One of the big winners of the weekend was the Manchester Giants who followed up an 81-76 win at Bristol Flyers with a 72-61 victory over Leeds Force.

Giants’ Latvian forward Ingus Bankevics had 19 points at Bristol, while Devin Grimes had a home debut to remember with 20 points in the defeat of Leeds.

It wasn’t a bad weekend for the Force who picked up a great two points on Friday, enjoying an overtime victory, 69-64, at London Lions, behind 16 points from Branimir Mikulic.

It was another overtime game for the Lions on Sunday, but this time they came away from Sheffield with an 83-80 win in the bag.

Lions’ Lovell Cook put on a show for his mother, visiting from New Orleans, with a 34-point haul, his highest of the season.

Source: BBL

Exit mobile version