Worcester Wolves and Cheshire Phoenix secured first leg victories in their BBL Trophy semi-final ties but it is still all to play for in the second games.
The Worcester Wolves will more than fancy their chances at home on Wednesday after they picked up a valuable 62-60 away win over the Sheffield Sharks in the first leg.
The Wolves however will be disappointed by squandering a 20-point lead after a woeful final period saw them register only three points as the Sharks fought back to close the gap to just two points with the second leg to follow.
Zaire Taylor led the Wolves with 18 points, with Will Creekmore adding 14. Patrick Hortsmann led the Sharks with 17.
The other semi-final saw Cheshire Phoenix come from behind to defeat the Glasgow Rocks 80-74 in the north-west.
Trailing 64-53, Glasgow were in firm control of the tie as they look to reach the BBL Trophy final, which is being played on their own court on March 30.
Cheshire and Dominque Coleman though had other ideas as the Phoenix went on a 15-4 spurt to start the fourth quarter, which levelled the scores at 68-68, and the hosts had enough in them to grab the victory as they go to Scotland next week with a six-point lead.
Coleman had a game-high 33 points for the Phoenix, with GB international Gareth Murray amassing 20 for the Rocks.
In the BBL Championship, Newcastle Eagles took advantage of the Worcester Wolves being on Trophy duty, as they beat the Plymouth Raiders 94-74, then travelled to the Leicester Riders and edged the champions 84-83 to move level with the Wolves at the top of the table.
The Eagles broke away from a stubborn Plymouth side in the second quarter as they ended the half on a 14-1 run to break away and give the Raiders no hope.
Darius Defoe and Paul Gause both led the Eagles with 18 points in the comfortable win. They then followed it up with the win at the Riders where they led by 19 points at one stage but let the advantage slip as they hung on for victory.
Anthony Downing hit a three at the buzzer for the Riders but it wasn’t enough as the Eagles did enough in the final stages. Gause had 21 for the Eagles.
The Plymouth Raiders ended their four-game losing streak though in Guildford as they defeated Surrey United 94-88 after a session of overtime.
There was nothing to separate the two sides through four quarters in what was a evenly-poised game. But Plymouth finally broke away in the extra session thanks to Donald Robinson and Nick George as Surrey remains second from bottom.
Phil Pressey and Robinson both led the Raiders with 24 points.
Glasgow Rocks kept their playoff push going with a comfortable 96-75 win over the winless Birmingham Knights who have dropped their 27th game in a row.
Chris Johnson led the Rocks with 22 points.
The Durham Wildcats currently own the eighth and final playoff spot; this despite losing 77-65 at home to the Sheffield Sharks as they kept their chances of home advantage in the post-season alive.
Nick Lewis led the Sharks with 19 points but it was Mike Tuck who stole the show with a sublime double-double of 17 points and 16 rebounds.
The other game saw Manchester Giants keep their faint hopes of a playoff spot going with an easy 108-93 win away at the London Lions.
The Giants, led by 25 points from David Aliu have now won five of their last six encounters.
