Leicester Riders are BBL Championship winners for the second year running.

Rob Paternostro’s side sealed the triumph in front of their home fans with a 99-69 victory over Plymouth Raiders at Leicester Arena on Friday.

Conner Washington top scored with 18 points and started the celebrations early with a red-hot display in the fourth quarter with the Riders holding their opponents to 25 points in the second half.

“It feels great,” declared Paternostro. We went in at half time and thought that we just had to get some stops. We knew we would. We were confident.

Washington added: “All the hard work has paid off and we have come together as a team.”

A second-string Riders side travelled to the capital on Sunday with London Lions running out eventual 111-88 winners with Navid Niktash top scoring with 25 points.

The battle for the two remaining Playoff spots could not be closer with three teams heading into the final weekend with a 14-17 record.

Surrey Scorchers got themselves back in the mix with an impressive 112-111 overtime success against Newcastle Eagles with 30 points from Chaz Rollins, while Quincy Taylor netted the game-winner.

As for Bristol Flyers, they were beaten 90-71 away at Sheffield Sharks with Malcolm Riley netting nine triples on his way to a 35-point haul.

Following Friday’s defeat against Leicester, the Raiders faced another road trip and went down 88-84 against Glasgow Rocks having led by as many as 14 in the contest.

Also, Worcester Wolves took their win streak to 12 straight games as they recorded a 94-90 victory over London Lions with Marek Klassen leading the way with 26 points.

Cheshire Phoenix battled back in their game on Friday night before claiming an 83-93 win away at Manchester Giants, while Glasgow started their double-winning weekend at home with a convincing 92-61 win against Leeds Force.