BBL Championship
Glen Luss Glasgow Rocks 75-96 London Lions (21-24, 43-47, 61-74)
(Rocks – Malcolm 19, Johnson 17, Harris 13; Lions – Reese 21, Williams 21, Robinson 13)
BBL Championship
Manchester Giants 58-81 Bristol Flyers (16-23, 35-44, 43-61)
(Giants – Anderson 13, Saunders 12, Hudson 9; Flyers – Evans 19, Delpeche 14, Jacob 14)
BBL Championship
Newcastle Eagles 87-91 Plymouth Metropolis Patriots (23-16, 43-33, 63-62)
(Eagles – Gordon 20, Fletcher 18, Sayers 13; Patriots – Hassan 23, Williams 19, Ubiaro 14)
Friday evening noticed the entire groups between fourth and ninth in a tightly compacted BBL Championship desk in motion towards one another, with London Lions shifting as much as fourth with a giant win on Sky Sports activities, whereas Plymouth Metropolis Patriots produced but extra dramatic late heroics because it was away wins all-round.
Lions have been irrepressible in beating Glen Luss Glasgow Rocks 96-75 on the Emirates Enviornment, hitting an astonishing 23 three-pointers at a charge of 63%. In complete, 69 of their 96 factors got here from past the arc as Dirk Williams made 5-7 (71%) to tempo them with 21 factors, whereas Isaiah Reese had a double-double of 21 and 11 assists.
Lions initially led by double-figures within the second quarter as Lorenzo Cugini hit back-to-back triples in an 8-0 run to make it 32-22, just for Rocks to reply instantly with a 9-0 burst of their very own earlier than taking the lead again on a Jordan Johnson ‘and-one’ play.
However Lions acquired in entrance simply earlier than the break when Cugini beat the half-time buzzer together with his fourth three of the primary half; and that gave them momentum, re-taking a double-digit lead within the third when Will Neighbour checked in and hit 5 fast factors in a row to make it 67-57.
Like Neighbour, Justin Robinson emerged to attain one other 5, and the lead solely swelled from there as Williams added a trio of triples within the fourth quarter to ship Lions above Manchester Giants and Newcastle Eagles within the desk.
That happened after Eagles misplaced 91-87 to Plymouth Metropolis Patriots at Vertu Motors Enviornment, Patriots making it six wins within the final eight video games and, whereas they continue to be seventh within the BBL Championship, they be a part of Eagles and Giants on eight wins.
Patriots have been in a double-figure gap on the highway when Kyle Williams scored 5 factors in a row to cap an 11-2 run over the primary quarter break and Newcastle led 31-18 early within the second interval.
They nonetheless trailed by double-figures halfway by the third quarter, however exhibiting the character that we now have develop into accustomed to, they hit 10 straight factors in a minute as Rowell Graham-Bell scored three-pointers to top-and-tail that run, earlier than snatching the lead on a Joe Hart triple.
There have been 5 lead modifications from there, and the sport regarded as if it is perhaps over as soon as extra when the hosts opened the fourth 8-2 as Justin Gordon scored 5 to make it 71-64, and Newcastle have been nonetheless in entrance heading into the ultimate three minutes when Paul James referred to as a timeout.
Rising from that, his workforce sensationally scored 9 straight factors, together with 4 for Antonio Williams and one other three-pointer from Joe Hart, to seize an 87-82 lead with 20 seconds to play, earlier than seeing the sport out from the free-throw line.
Rashad Hassan completed with a double-double of 23 factors and 11 rebounds, whereas Antonio Williams did likewise with 19 factors and 15 assists.
Lastly, Bristol Flyers produced a attribute defensive efficiency in selecting up an enormous 81-58 highway win at Manchester Giants, snapping a four-game dropping streak and shifting only one win behind Giants, Eagles and Patriots at 7-6 in eighth place.
Flyers have been in management from begin to end as they scored the primary seven factors when Malcolm Delpeche opened with consecutive scores and Trejon Jacob hit a 3, in a run that grew to become an 18-6 begin for an early double-digit lead.
It was briefly narrowed to single-figures within the second stanza, till they held their hosts scoreless for practically 4 minutes whereas pouring in 11 factors of their very own, up 39-23 on one other pair of consecutive Delpeche scores. And there was no method again for Giants when Flyers clamped down as soon as extra to carry them to only eight third quarter factors.
Delpeche completed on a double-double of 14 factors and 12 rebounds, whereas Marcus Evans led all scorers with 19 factors.
