Despite winning the BBL Trophy, Worcester Wolves’ weekend was mixed, as they lost their advantage at the top of the league table thanks to an 82-73 setback at home to the Sheffield Sharks, while Newcastle Eagles stayed top with two hard-fought wins.

Olu Babalola poured in 20 points to lead the Sharks as they held the Wolves to just seven points in eight minutes while executing their plays for the win.

Worcester’s loss to third place Sheffield was played 48 hours before their trip to Glasgow and with that loss, the Wolves could lose ground when the Sharks travel to Newcastle to face the Eagles next Friday.

On a weekend where incredibly, there were three other games being played on the same day as the Trophy Final, Newcastle were 99-95 victors at north-east rivals Durham Wildcats in an exciting derby clash.

Darius Defoe led the Eagles with 22 points and 8 rebounds, but they had to withstand a late charge from the Wildcats. Thankfully Newcastle’s experience prevailed as they stayed in the driving seat.

The Eagles were in action 48 hours before as well, and like their clash at Durham were taken to the limit against a Manchester Giants side, but Newcastle snatched an 83-82 win in the north-west.

Malik Cooke scored with 44 seconds left for the visitors as Manchester pushed for a winning bucket that never came. Cooke ended with a game-high 23 for the winners.

Manchester Giants did manage to obtain a win over the weekend though as they beat Surrey United 100-90 at Surrey Sports Park. Stefan Gill hit 24 points for Manchester as they broke into the playoff places.

For second-bottom Surrey though, they suffered two losses over the weekend as they went down 102-78 away at the London Lions.

Chez Marks hit 20 points for the Lions as they established a comfortable 61-39 lead at half-time and never looked back.

BBL champions, Leicester Riders enjoyed a double-winning weekend as they predictably beat the winless Birmingham Knights 104-52. Drew Sullivan led all scorers with 21 as the Riders cruised to a 55-19 lead at the half and jogged to the finish line.

Leicester followed that up with an impressive 77-62 win at the Cheshire Phoenix.

Anthony Downing led the champions with 17 points, as Leicester complete the clean sweep this season over the Phoenix.