BBL REGULAR SEASON ENDS, PLAY-OFFS SET

By Mark Woods on April 10, 2011

Needing to win to snatch the head to head, Guildford Heat defeated Leicester Riders 91-66 on the final day of the British Basketball League's regular season.

And with Glasgow Rocks defeating Milton Keynes 89-72, it set the play-off match-ups in stone.

It sees Mersey face Leicester, Newcastle meet Guildford, Sheffield take on Glasgow and Cheshire go up against Plymouth.

Mike Copeland hit 25 points for Glasgow who reeled off a 13-2 run in the second quarter to leave the lowly Lions behind for good.

And a 13-2 burst in the third sealed a win that left the Scots with a 18-15 record this term.

Leicester rested both JR Blount and Robert Youngblood and never looked like matching their hosts who were paced by a game-high 22 points from Mike Martin.

Guildford never looked troubled after a 22-2 start with Martin going 10/10 adding 8 rebounds and 7 steals.

Frank Holmes led the Riders with 17 including the final basket of the game with 1.27 to go.

After 33 weeks of play, tactics were available to engineer a favourable play-off draw.

Then again, it was pick your poison time in the post-season with Mersey, Newcastle and Sheffield all providing imposing first round tests.

Plymouth, needing victory to finish fifth, cruised to a 108-74 victory over Worthing in what is likely to be the south coast side's last BBL game.

The Raiders used a 10-0 run at the start of the second quarter to move 44-20 ahead of their guests.

Gavin Love's side – with Germayne Forbes back in action – swept 61-33 in front by half-time and increased the gap to 88-57 at the close of the third against a Thunder side suffering a mental hangover from their shock win over Cheshire less than 24 hours earlier.

And they failed to muster a challenge as Plymouth booked a play-off quarter-final against Cheshire next weekend, headed by 27 points and 10 rebounds from Anthony Rowe.

The Jets lost 109-86 to Worcester in a game with nothing at stake in the standings with Paul Smith's side falling away after trailing 51-49 at half-time.

Dan Gilbert had 27 for the Wolves.

Play-off quarter-finals (two legs, higher seed first)

Mersey (1) v Leicester (8) : 1st leg, Saturday 16 @ Lei , 2nd leg, Sunday 17 @ Mer

Newcastle (2) v Guildford (7) : 1st leg, Friday 15 @ New, 2nd leg, Saturday 16 @ Gui

Sheffield (3) v Glasgow (6) : 1st leg, Friday 15 @ She, 2nd leg, Monday 18 @ Gla

Cheshire (4) v Plymouth(5) : 1st leg, Saturday 16 @ Ply, 2nd leg, Sunday 17 @ Che

Other Dates TBC

British Basketball League – Final Standings 2010-11

		P	W	L	Pts
1	Mersey Tigers	33	25	8	50 *
2	Newcastle Eagles	33	24	9	48 *
3	Sheffield Sharks	33	24	9	48 *
4	Cheshire Jets	33	20	13	40 *
5	Plymouth Raiders	33	19	14	38 *
6	Glasgow Rocks	33	18	15	36 *
7	Guildford Heat	33	17	16	34 *
8	Leicester Riders	33	17	16	34 *
9	Worcester Wolves	33	15	18	30
10	Milton Keynes Lions	33	13	20	26
11	Worthing Thunder	33	5	28	10
12	Essex Pirates	33	1	32	2

* qualified for play-offs. Teams separated on head to head.

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