BBL Weekend Round Up

Newcastle Eagles suffered a setback on Friday after a pulsating 94-92 home defeat by the Cheshire Phoenix.

Chez Marks poured in 31 points to power the Phoenix, who edged ahead in the third quarter to snatch their ninth win of the season.

The Sheffield Sharks were 95-87 winners over the Manchester Giants to move up to seventh place just above Cheshire.

Sixth-placed Worcester Wolves were the latest to tee off on the hapless Mersey Tigers, who dropped to 0-23 this season following a 119-64 rout.

Saturday saw the Leicester Riders move two points clear at the top of the BBL Championship after coasting to an 84-59 victory over Manchester Giants.

The Riders had established a 10-point lead by the end of the first quarter and went on to dominate throughout, Andrew Sullivan leading the way with 25 points.

Plymouth Raiders lie third and they are now just four points behind Newcastle Eagles after a thrilling 91-89 victory over Surrey Heat.

Raiders were 12 points clear at the halfway stage but the Heat fought back and led 69-68 entering the final period.

However. the Raiders got back in front in the closing stages, Michael Ojo finishing as the top scorer on the night with 31 points.

Worcester Wolves beat London Lions 98-91 after double overtime, Stanley Ocitti scoring 21 points.

Durham Wildcats saw their play-off push suffer a blow when they went down to a 99-73 loss at the hands of Glasgow Rocks.

Rocks player-coach Sterling Davis led the way with a game-high 30 points, including helping his team race out to a double-digit lead.

Durham simply never recovered from giving up 27 points in the opening 10 minutes. They trailed 74-57 going into the last quarter and were never able to get close.

Donald Robinson had 17 points and eight assists to back up the efforts of Davis, while Andrew Keister who had a double-double of 23 points and 11 rebounds in a losing cause.

The Leicester Riders remain out in front in the BBL Championship after a hard-fought 69-60 victory over Cheshire Phoenix on Sunday.

Phoenix, fresh off a victory over reigning champions Newcastle Eagles on Friday night, overturned a slow start to out-score the Riders 21-8 in the second period.

However, Leicester stepped up their defence after the half-time interval to take control of proceedings, even though they went one-for-14 from three-point range. Slovakian forward Pavol Losonsky top-scored with 24 points.

Meanwhile Newcastle Eagles, meanwhile, avoided a third successive defeat – including losing in the quarter-final of the BBL Cup to Worcester Wolves – with a 96-79 victory against Plymouth Raiders.

Former Plymouth point guard Anthony Martin poured in 18 points against his old employers, while Charles Smith had 26 points and 12 rebounds and Kareem Maddox managed 20 points and 14 boards.

There was further good news for Newcastle with the return of player-coach Fabulous Flournoy from injury.

Matt Schneck top-scored with 24 for the Raiders, who led 10-4 in the early stages but then trailed by five at the end of the first half.