BBL: Eagles continue to soar & all the latest scores

Guildford Heat 95 (23,42,74) (McLemore 30, Ogedengbe 15, Martin/Lasker 14)
UCP Marjon Plymouth Raiders 85 (17,48,66) (Williams 24, Bell 17, Colbert 16)

Guildford Heat put a dent in UCP Marjon Plymouth Raiders title hopes with a 95-85 victory in Surrey.

Guildford began brightly with a Frank Holmes bucket capping a 19-8 start. Raiders battled hard to close the gap and got back to 23-17 on a Michael Ojo two by the end of the first quarter.

Raiders came roaring back in the second period. Lehmon Colbert ended a 17-6 run to give Plymouth the lead at 30-29

And despite Heat tying the match at 34-34 on a Martelle McLemore free throw, Plymouth strung together another good run (14-8) to go in at half time 48-42 on top.

The match became Heat’s in the third quarter as the home team outscored Raiders 32-18 in the penultimate stanza. A 21-4 run took the score from 54-52 in Plymouth’s favour to 73-58 in the Heat’s.

It gave Guildford a 74-66 advantage, which Raiders worked hard to try and close. With six minutes to play they still trailed by eight (80-72) and threes by Mike Martin and McLemore made the match safe.

Durham Wildcats 68 (17,34,54) (Flaherty 20, P Elderkin 20, Bucci 7)
Mersey Tigers 79 (16,37,53) (Hesson 20, Otten 16, Crielli 15)

Mersey Tigers won the battle at the bottom of the BBL with a strong finish to the match against Durham Wildcats to come out 79-68 victors.

The visiting Tigers had trailed by one heading into the final quarter but having taken the lead at 64-62 with five minutes to play they went on an 11-0 burst to take the game away from their hosts.

Earlier the Wildcats had led 17-16 after 10 minutes and then fell behind by three (37-34) heading into the half time break.

Miles Hesson for Tigers and Mario Flaherty and Paul Elderkin for Durham led all scorers with 20 points each.

The victory puts a six point cushion between the two clubs at the foot of the BBL Championship.

Prestige Homes MK Lions 88 (17,47,64) (Dobbins 24, Bolds 19, Northern 16)
Glasgow Rocks 101 (20,46,70) (Harrison 25, Green 25, Wedemire 23)

Glasgow Rocks pulled out a tough road win with an 88-101 victory at Prestige Homes MK Lions.

A tight first quarter saw Rocks finish the stronger with a 9-4 burst giving them a 20-17 lead after 10 minutes.

They extended their advantage to 26-17 early in the second period before the Lions gradually worked their way back. Trailing 40-37 with just over four minutes of the half to play Mike New’s team went in at half time leading 47-46.

Lions led for the majority of the third quarter. However, from being 60-58 on top with 3.38 to play the Rocks went on a 12-4 to run to lead 70-64 heading into the final stanza.

Rocks moved clear in the fourth quarter to 90-76 to make the match safe.

Cheshire Jets 82 (20,42,53) (Cole 26, OR 18, Brown 17)
Newcastle Eagles 95 (36,64,87) (Thomson 29, Chapman 18, Smith/Bridge 11)

Newcastle Eagles continued their progress to regaining the BBL Championship with a comfortable 95-82 win at Cheshire Jets.

The match seemed to be over at the end of the third quarter with Eagles leading 87-53 but Jets limited the visitors to just eight final stanza points to make the margin more respectable.

Earlier the Eagles had moved out to an 18-12 lead before stretching their advantage to 36-20 after 10 minutes – Andrew Thomson scored 21 points including five of five three pointers in this spell on his return to the north-west.

Newcastle made nine of nine three point shots to be 41-26 on top early in the second quarter before ending the half with a healthy 64-42 lead.

And they expanded their advantage to over 30 points by the end of the third quarter, which allowed Eagles player-coach Fab Flournoy the luxury of giving his bench players some time on court.