After a few changes at the top of the British Basketball League table, the weekend ended with the Worcester Wolves back on top of the pile in the league, while the BBL Cup semi-final, first legs were also played.
BBL Cup and both games evenly matched
Sheffield Sharks scored an 82-79 first leg win in their BBL Cup semi-final against Newcastle Eagles in Yorkshire.
The six-time winners were 61-53 up, going into the fourth but Newcastle had enough in them to leave the tie evenly poised as they head to Tyneside this week.
Patrick Horstmann and Jeremie Simmons led the Sharks with 18 points each while Charles Smith led all scorers in vain for the Eagles with 24.
Leicester Riders have a 95-89 lead to take back to Leicester as they beat the Plymouth Raiders in their first leg in Devon.
The reigning BBL Cup holders were led by last year’s Cup MVP Jay Couisnard, who posted 21 points and 12 rebounds for the victors. Donald Robinson led all scorers with 30 for the Raiders.
Wolves go three-point crazy in the league.
Worcester Wolves made it a double-winning weekend as they beat Manchester Giants 118-102 in an all-offence free for all at the University of Worcester Arena.
Zaire Taylor led all scorers with 37 points, including going 8/9 from three-point land. As a team, Wolves shot 71 percent from outside [12/17]. Will Creekmore added 30 for the victors.
Zaire Taylor’s first half clinic:
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Manchester fought hard though and proved no pushovers for the red-hot Worcester side. David Aliu led the Giants with 29.
Worcester’s weekend ended with a comfortable 100-86 win at the Durham Wildcats.
Will Creekmore hit 32 points to lead all scorers as he amassed an impressive 62 points over the weekend. Alex Owumi hit 30 as well for the visitors, as they end the week top of the pile.
Devin Ginty led Durham’s charge with 21 points.
Leicester were the second of three teams to end the weekend with two wins under their belts as they edged a determined Manchester Giants side 89-87 at the JSSC.
Great Britain international Andrew Sullivan won it in the dying seconds for the Riders as Manchester came so near to pulling off a major upset by beating the champions.
Sullivan and Anthony Downing both had 20 points for the Riders. David Aliu again led the Giants with a game-high 22.
Sheffield Sharks were the third and final team to go two-for-two at the weekend by beating winless Surrey United 88-70 in Guildford.
This was an unconvincing victory for the Sharks but after playing his bench for the entire third quarter, Sheffield coach Atiba Lyons put his starters back on and they showed their class in the final period as a 60-57 lead was soon in double digits as a 16-5 burst from the visitors got the job done.
Jeremie Simmons led the Sharks with 20 points.
Surrey United put in a spirited performance against the Sharks, this came after the Plymouth Raiders hammered them 105-59 on the Saturday.
The Raiders led from start to finish, showing no mercy on Jack Majewski’s young side.
Gabriele Haskins led the way with 18 points for Plymouth. Brandan McGill led all scorers with 31 on his debut for United.
Other two games saw losses for the leading two teams from last week as London Lions lost 82-73 to the Glasgow Rocks in Scotland. Daniel Northern led the Rocks with 26 points as they snap a six-game winning streak that the Lions were enjoying.
Newcastle had a rare losing weekend, which ended with a surprise 87-79 loss away at the Cheshire Phoenix.
Dominique Coleman and Victor Moses were inspired, each leading the winners with 22 points as they broke the game open in the third quarter to record the win.
