London Lions are the first team to book their spot in the BBL Cup final after overcoming Newcastle Eagles over two legs this weekend.
The latest BBL Championship standings after the weekend's action..#BritishBasketball pic.twitter.com/pn9LrJvYRa
— British Basketball League (@BBLofficial) December 10, 2018
Find out about that, along with the rest of the results in our round up:
Esh Group Eagles Newcastle 75-73 London Lions
BBL Cup, Semi-Finals, First Leg
Esh Group Eagles Newcastle took a slender advantage into Sunday’s Second Leg after edging out London Lions, 75-73, at Sport Central.
The Lions had a four-point lead at the end of the first through a deep buzzer beater from Robinson and re-claimed that advantage late in the fourth at 69-73 before the Eagles scored the next six and held on for the win.
Fletcher had another impressive game for the Eagles with a game-high 22 points along with 8 assists, while Moses was close behind in scoring support with 17. Justin Robinson led London with 21 and 6 assist, whilst Brandon Peel had 17 and 12 rebounds, and Ladarius Tabb 15.
Leicester Riders 70-71 DBL Sharks Sheffield
BBL Championship
DBL Sharks Sheffield produced a gritty display to hold off Leicester with a 70-71 victory, at Morningside Arena.
Leicester went on a 10-0 run over the final two minutes of the game, with an Andy Thomson three-pointer with 45 seconds left pulling them to within one, but neither team would be able to convert again, as Sheffield were able to breathe a sigh of relief.
Dirk Williams scored a game-high 33 points on just 17 shots and added 10 rebounds to lift the Sharks to victory, whilst Chris Alexander added 18 and 7 assists.
Wayne Martin and DeAndre Burnett haded 15 points apiece to lead Leicester.
The win sees the visitors improve their record to 8-3 and move within just two points of London Lions at the top of the standings. Meanwhile, the hosts slip to their second defeat of the campaign and remain in fifth place in the table.
Manchester Giants 77-85 Radisson RED Glasgow Rocks
BBL Cup, Semi-Finals, First Leg
Radisson RED Glasgow Rocks will fancy their chances of progressing to the Cup Final after a solid 77-85 victory on the road against Manchester Giants, in the first leg of the Cup Semi-Final.
Manchester now face an uphill battle if they are to overturn the eight point deficit in the second leg in January, at Emirates Arena. The Rocks pounced in the second quarter, capitalising on early Giants foul trouble, after Manchester’s Willie Clayton and Torry Butler picked up a combined five fouls before half-time.
Bouna Ndiaye produced the performance of the night, scoring a game-high 24 points on just 11 shots. Kieron Achara also impressed for the Rocks, scoring 22 points to go along with 9 rebounds and 4 blocks.
Ingus Bankevics had 17 to lead Manchester, with Mike McCall Jr adding 14, Willie Clayton had 13 points and 18 rebounds, 10 of which came on the offensive end.
Surrey Scorchers 79 – 84 Leicester Riders
BBL Championship
Leicester Riders bounced back from their second league defeat of the season to beat Surrey Scorchers 84-79 on the road, closing the gap on the top four with games in hand following their FIBA Europe Cup escapades.
A tight game was broken open with big plays early in the fourth quarter as JR Holder hit a three-pointer on the shot clock buzzer and an Andy Thomson steal led to an easy score for Conner Washington.
That became an 18-9 start to the period as Holder hit another triple for the first double-digit lead of the game at 77-65. Surrey got it back to one possession inside the final 30 seconds, but Willie Atwood missed the opportunity to tie the game.
DeAndre Burnett led the scoring with 23 points for Riders including 5-for-9 (55%) three-pointers, while JR Holder added 19 including big plays in the fourth quarter.
Quincy Taylor had 24 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists for Scorchers, with Tayo Ogedengbe adding 21 and Josh Steel finishing with 17.
Plymouth Raiders 94-79 Cheshire Phoenix
BBL Championship
Plymouth Raiders claimed their fifth league win of the season after overcoming Cheshire Phoenix 94-79 at home.
Paul James’ side move to 5-6, while the Phoenix dropped to 4-7 as they handed a debut to Jalen Hayes with CJ Gettys starting his second spell at the club with a double-double.
The Raiders began to pull away in the middle periods as they put up 54 points to turn a slender deficit into a 17-point lead and there was no way back for the visitors.
Donte Nicholas stuffed the stat-sheet with 27 points, 9 rebounds, 11 assists and 7 steals, whilst Rashad Hassan added 25.
Cheshire were led by 15 from Dii’Jon Allen-Jordan and 14 from Momcilo Latinovic.
London City Royals 84-70 Radisson RED Glasgow Rocks
BBL Championship
London City Royals made it back-to-back wins after seeing off Radisson RED Glasgow Rocks 84-70 at Crystal Palace, in what as Ashley Hamilton’s long-awaited debut.
The Rocks edged the first and third periods by the same 18-19 scoreline, but it was the second that proved the difference as Hamilton scored eight points in a 26-12 quarter to put the Royals back in the driving seat.
Hamilton made an immediate impact with 24 points and 11 rebounds in the win, while Orlan Jackman also added a double-double with 13 points and 12 boards and Bryan-Amaning had 19 points.
Greg Pryor had 20 to lead Glasgow, with Kieron Achara and Ali Fraser adding 12 each.
The Royals are now at 5-3 in the league with the Rocks unable to back up their Cup win on Friday as they fall to 3-8.
London Lions 97-85 Esh Group Eagles Newcastle (170-160 on aggregate)
BBL Cup, Semi-Final, Second Leg
London Lions overturned the slender First Leg deficit to overcome Esh Group Eagles Newcastle 97-85 and reach the BBL Cup Final.
The team performances sums up by @Vincemacaulay and progression into the final#WeAreLondon #london #londonlions #BBL #britishbasketball #newcastleeagles pic.twitter.com/fYfXl497Lj
— London Lions (@London_Lions) December 10, 2018
The overall deficit was halved after 10 minutes with little to split the teams in a high-scoring first quarter, but the Lions began to pull away as they went into the half with an eight-point cushion on the night before closing out the victory late on.
The Lions connected with 13 triples in the contest at 40% shooting and were able to limit Rahmon Fletcher to just four points.
Ladarius Tabb led the way with 22 points and 10 rebounds, while Justin Robinson and Brandon Peel both added 19 points apiece to send their side into another Final.
😤 Jeremy SMITH with the BIG throwdown!!#BritishBasketball #LetsGoEagles pic.twitter.com/qQAtu3SZl5
— British Basketball League (@BBLofficial) December 9, 2018
Victor Moses had 27 to lead Newcastle, with Jeremy Smith adding 18, including one big dunk over Peel.
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