Lloyd was frustrated with his side’s latest pair of defeats, “I’d spoken to a couple of people at Milton Keynes and they said that Sharks really struggled against the zone the night before, but they shot the lights out against us.  They killed us with three pointers, and we weren’t big enough or strong enough to stop them.  Teams are watching our games on tape, and they know what we are going to do.  Pete [Scantlebury] is good at that kind of thing, and he had us worked out.” 

Everton Tigers will look to wrap up the season series against Team Birmingham Panthers when the sides meet on Merseyside on Friday evening.

Henry Mooney’s Tigers travelled to the midlands three weeks ago, and returned home with the BBL Championship points after a 94-76 victory. Tigers controlled the game for long periods and led 28-20 and 44-35 at the end of the first two quarters thanks to some excellent play at both ends of the court. However, Panthers notched a 21-6 run around the final break to get back within one at 71-72. There was to be no happy ending though for the home side as Everton upped the tempo once more through two Tony Robertson three-pointers to end the match on a 22-5 burst of their own. Robertson led all scorers with 31 points.

Everton suffered a surprise home defeat against Worcester Wolves on Friday evening, and coach Mooney admitted to being frustrated with his side’s display, “We turn up one week, then we don’t the following week. We should have beaten them, but they’ve improved a lot. Paez and Life can shoot the lights out, and they also beat Birmingham on Saturday. All the teams can beat each other, you only have to look at the Rocks beating Newcastle by 19. We ran them close without Calvin Davis, so it’s clear that all of the teams are beatable.”

Despite that loss, Mooney is expecting his side to bounce back on Friday evening, “We’ve got four games left this year [2007], and we are looking to win them all. When we played Panthers before we didn’t play particularly well, but we did enough to beat them. They have some decent players, but they’ve lost a couple of guys, and they’ll struggle without them.”

With his side again depleted with injuries and down to one import player again, Panthers coach Nigel Lloyd is expecting another tough game, “They played us very very well, and although they run hot and cold at times, they were definitely hot against us. The thing we will struggle with is their size. We don’t have anyone who can match up with Calvin Davis, Chris Haslam or Delme Herriman, so I’ll need to find a game-plan to beat a very good team. We have to hope we can spread the game, and use our fast break to outrun them. Tony Robinson has the ability to change the game with his three point range and ability, so we have to deal with him.”

Newcastle Eagles’ coach Fabulous Flournoy is looking for his side to put their loss at rivals SAMG Verve Scottish Rocks behind them when they host the Jelson Homes DMU Leicester Riders on Friday, “They played well, and we played poorly, it’s that simple. Sterling did a fantastic job to prepare them, it was a really physical game which favoured them, and they did exactly what they needed to win the game – and they deserved to win it. Every time we come into a game thinking we just have to show up to win, we lose the game. I’m not just talking about the Guildford game [at the start of the season], I’m talking about the inter-squad scrimmage game we lost as well. If we think the game’s already won, we lose it.”

When the sides met in October, Eagles ran out comfortable 99-80 winners, and despite being at opposite ends of the table, Flournoy isn’t expecting an easy game against the Riders as he identified their main weapons, “Chad McKnight, Mindaugas Janiska, and Terrance Woodyard are the big keys for them. They are in every game they play, and they are capable of beating anyone. They are well coached, and it’ll be a tough game for us.”

Riders’ coach Martin Ford knows that Eagles will come out with all guns blazing following their loss in Scotland, but believes that his side are still capable of producing an upset, “I’m concerned about the backlash, however I’m led to believe that all is not particularly well up there. I’ve heard that Fab and four of their academy players are consistently beating their starters, and that there’s a bit of tension between Fab and certain players.

“We played them what seems like a year ago, and we’re aware of Richard Midgley’s ability to turn the game. He was the major difference when we played them at home. We struggle a bit with Babalola’s physical presence, but he wasn’t a major factor, and we matched up well with their other players, but when Midgley was on the floor we struggled.

“I set the guys a target of three wins from four games in December, and having lost against Jets, we now need to steal one in Newcastle. It’s quite a fortress for them, but we’re preparing for them.

“They are team oriented, but they have individuals who can blow open a game. Fab is a great leader, when needed he can put the team on his back and carry them to a win. I have a lot respect for him, we need to make him work on the defensive end and get him in foul trouble, and we need to wear him down at the offensive end so that he is less of a factor. It’s a difficult game, but I believe we can be competitive.”

If the second meeting of the season between the Sheffield Sharks and Marshall MK Lions is as exciting as the last time the sides met, the fans are in for a treat at the EIS on Friday night.

Sharks fought back from 41-29 down in the second period of that game, and eventually won 87-83, with Ray McKeithan scoring the final basket eight seconds from time.

Sheffield coach Peter Scantlebury is expecting another tight encounter on Friday night, “They are playing well at the moment, and they’re in a hot spell. It’s going to be tough for us, they are the opposite of us in that they have a lot of experience and they will give us problems. We managed to beat them at home, and we’ll need to play with a lot of energy if we’re going to repeat that.

“I’d expect Robert Youngblood to be back, and with Mike New and Shawn Jamison they are good inside. Tony Windless and Yorick Williams are their main offensive weapons, but they are a good all-round team.”

The Sharks slipped to another defeat last weekend, losing 71-57 at Kularoos Plymouth Raiders, and Scantlebury had some harsh words to say about his team, “We were okay at the start, but the second and third periods were very poor. We fought back but it was too late. Atiba [Lyons] played, but he’ll take time to settle back in, and we were missing Ray McKeithan through injury which obviously didn’t help. “But the fact of the matter is we aren’t good enough on the offensive end at the moment. You aren’t going to win many games with scores in the fifties.

“This has been the most frustrating period I’ve had as a coach. Two weeks ago we won at the Rocks, but we’ve performed poorly since then. We’re trying to get some consistency, and although I know we’ve got a young team, but I would have expected some progress in that area by now.”

Lions’ coach Vince Macaulay is expecting a tough test in Yorkshire, “They are a very dangerous team. We fell asleep on them last time, and couldn’t protect a 16 point half-time lead. They’ve lost Steve Parrilon since then, and they are in a bit of disarray, but they are coached by an experienced coach, and I expect them to be together for the game. They need some leadership, and Atiba Lyons will settle them down a bit. They are playing on the back of a bad loss against a Plymouth team who were without [Andrew] Lasker. Do we need to watch out for the backlash?

Team Birmingham Panthers will be looking to repeat their shock victory against the Sheffield Sharks when the pair meet in the West Midlands on Saturday.

Daniel Sandell led them in that game with 21 points, as Panthers had led 72-59 going into the final period before a 15-2 push saw Sharks take a 74-73 lead with 2:54 remaining.  However, the Panthers responded immediately as the irrepressible Sandell scored four points in a 10-0 reply that settled the game, with Birmingham winning 85-76.

However, Nigel Lloyd’s team are struggling with injuries and departures, and with Sharks looking to bounce back after two poor offensive displays, Coach Lloyd was in a reflective mood as he looked forward to Saturday’s game, “Every team who’s struggling seems to be getting the chance to play us. First of all it was Leicester and then Worcester, and Sheffield had a bad result last week, so they’ll want to get back in the groove against us. We beat them before but we matched up better with them then. They are much bigger than us, so we’ll have to work on a game plan to see if we can squeeze them.

“[Shelby] Chaney’s size will cause us problems, and although Alto Virgil isn’t having the best of seasons, when he’s running the point he’s big for a point guard and will be able to look over our guy who’s guarding him. He’s capable of running the show, but we’re hopeful of having Rob Paternostro available for both games over the weekend. He’s going to have some physio, we only played him once over last weekend, and he was really struggling in the second half. He played through the pain, and you can’t ask for more from your captain and veteran player. It makes the rest of the players feel better about their little niggles, and he’s a great example to them.”

Having already seen his side suffer a shock loss against the Panthers, Sharks’ coach Peter Scantlebury certainly isn’t underestimating the Birmingham team, “They’ve been short of players for a lot of the season, but they play hard, and we’ll need to match their intensity. They have some good British guards in Lekan Popoola, Daniel Sandell and Adam Williams, together with Rob Paternostro, and they put up some good numbers against us when they beat us before. They showed that we can’t take them lightly last time, and I‘m not expecting an easy game.”

Jelson Homes DMU Leicester Riders’ coach Martin Ford is looking for revenge against Everton following a 100-84 loss against the Tigers in early November, when the teams meet at the John Sandford Centre on Saturday.

Tigers' win that night was inspired by former Rider David Aliu as he led all scorers with 27 points; Calvin Davis had 16 and Tony Robertson added 14 points for the Tigers.  Leicester's resistance was led by 23 points from Chad McKnight. 

“Saturday will be payback time,” said Ford. “They’ve made a change to their team since then, and that’s strengthened them. We need to contain the guys who won the game for them, and that starts with David Aliu. He had a career night for them, he and Chad [McKnight] went to college together, and he wanted to show what he can do. Chad wasn’t able to rise to that, and he’ll want to do better this time. We were also without Roderick Wellington, which was a big loss for us. 

“This is a huge game for us, we’re desperate for a home win. I think it’s been five games, and although we’ve won some games on the road, most of them have been at Birmingham. Not winning at home affects the crowd, and that has a knock-on effect for everything at the club, so this game is really important for us.” 

Riders had a mixed weekend last week, losing 93-80 at home against the BiG Storage Cheshire Jets before winning 85-79 at Team Birmingham Panthers, and Ford was unhappy with his team’s performances, “I was very disappointed on Saturday. We really didn’t come to play. Guys on the Jets team that weren’t a factor in the first game against us, were allowed to come down the floor and make open shots. We had a shocking shooting night, we were two from 22  three-pointers, and it wasn’t shot selection – they were shots that we needed to take. We’ve been working on getting guys free inside, and that was an improvement, but if we allow a team to score 31 in the first quarter, we are going to be in trouble. It was the first time I’ve been lost for words at half-time, there was no effort, no intensity, and we were allowing guys who shouldn’t be a factor to become one.” 

“We managed to rally for Sunday, but it certainly wasn’t easy and I was disappointed that I wasn’t able to play the guys who don’t get much court time. I told the players not to underestimate the Birmingham team.  Williams had 14 in the first quarter, and although we were better in the second period, they came back in the third, and overall I was still disappointed.

“Barry Lamble had a fantastic weekend for us with two double-doubles, but with no disrespect to him, he shouldn’t be leading our big men. That’s something we have to address, but we won’t be signing the Brazilian we looked at last week, he’s a good player, but he won’t give us what we need offensively.”

Tigers’ coach Henry Mooney doesn’t expect an easy game, “We played them at home and beat them, but they have some good guards, and McKnight is a good player. They do seem to be on a bit of downward spiral, I know they beat Birmingham, but they lost at home against Cheshire Jets, and it’s the kind of game that we should win.”

PAWS London Capital and Newcastle Eagles meet for the first time in London on Saturday as the home side look to gain revenge for an early season mauling at the hands of the north east club. 

Eagles picked up their first victory of the campaign when the pair met in September, running out comfortable 107-84 winners. Great Britain star Richard Midgley led the victors with 26 points, supported by 17 from Lynard Stewart and 15 from captain Andrew Bridge.

After a tight first quarter, the Eagles broke the game open late in the second as they closed it with a 14-2 surge.  The run was inspired by Midgley, as the Eagles led 56-41 at the half, and they never looked back.  

The game caps a massive week for the Capital team who face trips to the Marshall MK Lions on Wednesday and Plymouth on Sunday with the visit of the Eagles sandwiched in between, but London coach Steve Bucknall is pleased that his side now has some competition for places, “Harvey van Stein didn’t play on Sunday as he said he was sick, but it didn’t effect us much against Jets, and in fact we looked better. We used other guys in his place, and we were better defensively. We might need to sacrifice a bit of offence for defence, but he’ll have to fight his way back into the side. That’s the way I work, no one goes straight back into the side based on reputation, you have to earn your place.” 

The game will see Bucknall up against his former England colleague, Eagles’ coach Fab Flournoy and he’s looking forward to meeting up with him, “He was my room-mate in Melbourne with the England Commonwealth Games team. I know his style, and his team will play really aggressive defence. If we don’t match that, they’ll blow us out. Jeremy Hyatt is an explosive guard, and Richard Midgley has a good pedigree. They will move the ball around well and take a lot of good shots.” 

Having seen their winning run ended by old rivals the SAMG Verve Scottish Rocks last week, Flournoy is looking for a better performance on Saturday evening, “We need to make sure that our approach is right, when you’ve had a few wins, you stop doing the little things that are important, and then you’re in trouble. It’s a good test to be playing in London, they are well coached and they are capable of getting the upset wins. Any team is capable of winning any game in this league.  

“Ourselves and Guildford started well because we had settled squads that had been together for a period of time, the other sides in the league are catching up with that now. 

“It’s been a while since we played them, and their team has changed, but Buck has a great guard line-up. He’s got two players who have scored over 40 in a game, and it’s going to be tough at their place, especially as we’ve played the night before against Leicester.”

Despite finishing at opposite ends of the BBL Championship table last season, Heat coach Paul James is expecting Wolves to provide a tough test for his team, “They’ve had a couple of good wins recently, but I haven’t been able to see them play due to everything that has been going on. So we’ll be going in a bit blind, but Anthony Paez and Skouson Harker are clearly playing well, and James Life has started well – so we’ll need to take care of them.”

Kularoos Plymouth Raiders will look to end a run of away victories in games between themselves and PAWS London Capital when the pair meet for the fourth time this season.  

The opening game in the series saw Raiders record a comfortable 80-63 victory in the BBL Championship, but Capital caused an upset by winning 83-74 in the first round of the BBL Cup. Raiders returned to Capital City Academy a fortnight ago, and won a tight game 73-71. The visitors looked to be well on the way to a comfortable victory, leading 73-61 midway through the fourth period before Capital scored the final ten points of the game to set up a grandstand finish. Drew Lasker led Raiders with 27 points, while Wes Miller scored 16 for London. 

Raiders coach Gary Stronach is expecting another tough game when his side match up with London for the final time in the league this season, “They are a tough team and Steve has done a really good job there. They’re competitive and they are going to improve week by week. We know we’ll have a battle, and we were lucky to get a two point victory two weeks ago. They’ve added to their team with Fred Williams, and they are getting near to being the finished article. 

“We need to look out for the likes of Wes Miller, Sam Bradley and Harvey van Stein, but you can’t sleep on their British kids. Santa Ataha has had a new lease of life thanks to Steve [Bucknall], but really you could name the whole team as they go ten deep. They are finding their roles, and they will look to continue what they’ve been doing over the last few weeks. 

“We also need to continue playing the way we’ve been recently, and concentrating on our defence. We’re pressing for a place in the top four.” 

Having seen his side narrowly miss out on a victory against Raiders last time they met, Capital coach Steve Bucknall is looking for his team to finish the job this time,  

“We made a couple of mistakes against Plymouth last time. We know what to expect from them, they are a good all-round team. Any of their starting five can win the game, but we looked a lot better last weekend, and I’m looking to build on that.”

The Jelson Homes DMU Leicester Riders will look to wrap up the season series against the BiG Storage Cheshire Jets when the sides meet for the second time in a fortnight on Saturday.

The teams met at the Northgate Arena in mid-November and 26 points from Terrence Woodyard helped Riders win 93-86. It was Woodyard who won the game for them as, with 4.30 remaining, he broke open what had been a tight match with five consecutive points. After making a basket, he stole the ball and connected on a long three-pointer to give the Riders a 77-83 lead before Mindaugas Janiska kept his cool to make 4/4 from the line to seal it.

Leicester’s coach Martin Ford knows that his side face a tough test at the John Sandford Centre, “Without a doubt Shawn Myers and Jayson Obazuaye are their key players, but Russell Jordan did a fantastic job against Shawn last time we played against them, even though he’s smaller.  TJ [Walker] isn’t putting up the points in the way he did in the past but he still has the potential to blow the game open very quickly.”

Riders suffered a disappointing weekend last week as they lost their home and away games against the Guildford Heat, with both games ending in heavy defeats. Coach Ford was far from happy, “We were atrocious, and it was an absolutely diabolical performance. Undoubtedly they are a better team than us, but we did ourselves no justice whatsoever. We made simple, basic errors, and we simply didn’t have the guts to win the game. Without Brian Dux and a replacement for Carlton Aaron, we should have given them a much better game. Terrance Woodyard was the only player willing to stand toe to toe with them, and make them stop him.

“We now have a huge weekend against two sides that we have beaten, and we need to win the games to get back in the mix again.”

The Leicester line-up looks certain to be different to the one which suffered a pair of defeats against the Heat last week, with Riders hoping to have completed a signing of an American/Italian big man in time for the game, and they are also giving a trial to a Brazilian player.

Jets player-coach TJ Walker also expects it to be a tight game, “Chad McKnight brings them a lot of energy. That’s what he did with Guildford last season, he plays hard and you have to take care of him. Kyle Greathouse shoots the ball well, and we need to play some good defence against them.” 

Third placed Kularoos Plymouth Raiders will be looking for their ninth BBL Championship victory of the season on Saturday when they face fifth placed Sheffield Sharks at The Pavilions.

Raiders’ coach Gary Stronach, who has just scooped a BBC South-West lifetime achievement award, knows it will be a difficult game for his side, “It’s going to be a tough game, and it’s an important one for both teams. They’re just beneath us, and they’ll look to bounce back after losing to Rocks. Pete [Scantlebury] has got Atiba Lyons back now, and that will help him. I haven’t had the chance to see them yet, but they’ve made a few changes, and I’ll watch some tape later in the week.”

Raiders maintained their third place in the BBL Championship table on Saturday with a 73-71 win at London Capital, and Stronach admitted that he was relieved to get the victory, “It’s a tough place to play, and I was just happy to get the two point win. They’ve added to their squad with Williams, and they’ll be a better team for signing him. He’s pretty smooth, and although he suffered with foul trouble, he can shoot the ball well.”

Sharks’ coach Peter Scantlebury is also expecting a close game, “It’ll be a tough one down there. It’s always a difficult place to play, they’ve been getting some wins lately and they’ll be full of confidence. It’ll be backs to the wall for us.

“I haven’t been able to see them this season, but I know about most of their guys. Drew Lasker has been a major player for a few seasons, and like DeAntoine Beasley, he goes unnoticed and is under-rated.”

Despite a good start to the game, Sharks went out of the BBL Cup with a home defeat against SAMG Verve Scottish Rocks on Friday, and Scantlebury was disappointed with his side’s display, “We’re singing from the same old song-sheet. We get a big lead, and blow it once we’re under pressure. Once again we went away from doing the things that got us the lead, and we need to change that.”

Saturday’s game will see the return of Atiba Lyons to the squad. The 6’ 6” forward left Scantlebury’s team in the summer, but returns after a short spell in Israel, and Sheffield’s play-caller is delighted to have him back, “Atiba will help us, he’s knows our stuff and he’ll fit in. We’re back to full strength now, it’s just a shame we couldn’t have had him on Friday.”

Last season’s four BBL Championship meetings between the sides all proved to be close affairs, with Sharks shading the series 3-1. A strong fourth period performance from Gary Stronach’s side saw Lasker lead the scoring in a 90-85 Raiders’ victory in October, and it took overtime to split the sides before Sharks ran out 110-98 winners in the next game.  Thirty-one points from Jeff Bonds helped Sharks win 80-72 when Raiders visited the EIS in January, and they completed the series victory on Valentine’s Night with a 72-66 win despite Lasker’s 26 point haul for the hosts.

Worcester Wolves will aim for their first ever victory against their Midlands rivals the Team Birmingham Panthers on Saturday when the teams meet for the third time this season.

Daniel Sandell’s infamous 38-point haul set Panthers on the way to their first win of the season when they sides met at the end of October. A 13-1 start to the second half proved key, as Nigel Lloyd’s side wrapped up a 98-86 victory, with Anthony Paez leading the Wolves' scoring with 32.

The return saw Panthers collect a thrilling 87-85 overtime road win in Worcester. A three pointer from Wolves’ James Life levelled the score at 75-75 with 27 seconds remaining. During an enthralling finale both teams had opportunities to win the game but neither could convert their chance.

Panthers opened up the extra period with a 6-2 burst to take control of the game but some accurate long range shooting from Chuck Evans pegged back the visitors. Evans' second three pointer of the overtime period tied the game at 85-85 with seven seconds remaining but Wolves' Douaine Anderson fouled Sandell from the inbound and Sandell calmly slotted the free throws to secure the win.

Wolves’ coach Skouson Harker knows that winning the game is vital for his team as faces the side from the city in which he spent two years as a player and coach, “It’s a must-win game, and anything else would be a real disappointment. I think Nigel’s done a great job to get the wins they have. We match-up well with them, and we need to take advantage of that.

“Rob Paternostro controls the tempo and provides the spark for them, but obviously we need to control Dan Sandell. He had a career night against us when we played them before. Obviously he’s not that good every week, but he’ll have plenty of confidence playing against us, so we need to contain him.”

The Panthers had a blank weekend last week, which left coach Nigel Lloyd a relieved man, “We practiced on the Tuesday and Wednesday and we literally had only three fit players. We gave them the rest of the week off and had a run on Saturday in the hope that they would recover. We need to keep working, but we’re trying desperately to get the guys healthy for the two games over the weekend.

“Worcester have started to gel, and they had a good win against Capital. James Life scored 34 against London, and he looks like he’ll be a 30 points a night man. Paez is still going to get 25-30 per night, and Skouson will be more comfortable with his team now, and he’s good for 20 points each night. Add those three together, and that’s around 80 points, so they only need another ten to get up to 90. We struggled to score against them last time, and [Shaun] Durant always finds a way to score against us. They have a game on Friday evening, but they played the day before they beat Capital, so I don’t think that will make much difference.”

There will be a sense of de ja vu at the Walsall Campus on Sunday afternoon as another West vs. East Midlands derby is contested between the Team Birmingham Panthers and the Jelson Homes DMU Leicester Riders.

The sides have already met three times this season - twice in the BBL Championship and once in the BBL Cup – and Riders have won all three meetings. The teams met in Leicester on the opening weekend, and 25 points from Mindaugas Janiska helped the Riders to a comfortable 101-79 victory. Two weeks later the pair clashed again, this time on the Panthers’ court, and despite a tighter game, Riders won 84-70, Chad McKnight leading all scorers on 21 points. When the sides met in the BBL Cup in late October, a much closer game saw Riders eventually win 79-73, with a late Rod Wellington triple securing their berth in the competition.

Birmingham’s coach Nigel Lloyd is hoping that his side can finally get their first win against Riders, but admits that Martin Ford’s side seem to have their number this season, “Riders seem to be our bogey team this season. It’s not even an away game for some of them, their point guard Mindaugas Janiska lives in Birmingham, so does Barry Lamble and Emile Hopkins.

“They’ve handled us pretty well this season, we started recruiting at the same, and we looked at many of the same players, but they always seem to have the step on us. When we’ve lost players, they’ve gained players, and it just seems that they are our bogey team. That doesn’t mean we won’t go out there and give 100 percent. It’s our last chance to beat them this season, and we won’t give up.”

Despite those three victories for the Riders, Leicester coach Martin Ford isn’t taking the Panthers team lightly, “Two of the three times we have played them they were without any Americans, and they did a fantastic job against us and played an exceptional game. We need to concentrate on all of the players, because if you see an English kid come off the bench and you don’t give him respect, there’s every chance he will step up and hurt you. We need to dominate at both ends of the court, and forget about the fact that we’ve already beaten them three times.”

The BiG Storage Cheshire Jets will look to complete their third victory of the season against PAWS London Capital when the two sides meet at the Northgate Arena on Sunday afternoon.

Jayson Obazuaye led the way with 25 points when the sides met at Capital City Academy in early October as Jets ran out 76-69 winners.

The Jets broke the game open early on with a 21-2 tear, and London never got any closer than five points as Wes Miller’s 25 points proved to be in vain.

The return in Cheshire proved to be one-sided, and Shawn Myers’ 28 points proved to be key as the Jets won 89-67. Capital led 10-3 early in the game, but Jets came back strongly, and a 15-0 tear across the first quarter break gave the home side a lead that they were never to relinquish.

“We’ll need to work hard to get the win, and it’ll be a tough game” said London coach Steve Bucknall.

“Shawn Myers is their key player, he came back to them and fitted straight in. They are all decent players, but he has that little bit of experience to win games in crunch time.  That’s what I’m working on to get in my team.”

Capital’s main problem this season has been their lack of size in the paint, and Bucknall believes that he has solved it with the signing of New York born Fred Williams, “He’s out of shape, but he’ll bring us something inside. He’s got a good resume, and he’ll bring something to this league. He’s a quality big man with good skills, and he’ll be good for us.”

Jets’ coach TJ Walker is looking forward to facing the BBL newcomers again, “When we won in London, it was another game where we only played for around 25 minutes, and we let them back into it. We were too far ahead, but that would have given them confidence, and their guard Wes Miller got comfortable in the second half. He’s definitely the man to watch, and he can score from anywhere. You can’t give a player of his calibre open shots and easy stuff where you haven’t got a hand in his face, and we were doing that in the second half.”

Old rivals the SAMG Verve Scottish Rocks and Newcastle Eagles meet for the second time this season on Sunday, and if the game is as thrilling as this year’s first encounter at Braehead, then the crowd are in for a treat.

Eagles won a double-overtime classic 117-110, as GB international Richard Midgley won the game as, with the teams tied at 110, he netted the last seven points. With 2.3 seconds left on the clock, Maurice Hampton made the three-pointer that tied the game at 95 and forced the first overtime period. The Rocks thought they had won it after Rob Yanders made a triple and Julius Joseph made two free-throws to give them a 102-99 lead with six seconds remaining.  However, veteran shooting guard Jeremy Hyatt emulated Hampton's efforts by netting a crucial triple on the buzzer to knot the teams at 102 and send the game into a second overtime. The teams traded baskets up to 110-110 before Midgley took control.

The game is a dress rehearsal for the BBL Cup semi-final on December 15, and Rocks’ coach Sterling Davis was delighted with the way his side played to beat Sheffield Sharks in last Friday’s quarter-final, “It was a good win for us. We dug ourselves a hole in the first quarter, but we responded really well, and once we got in the lead we never looked back. I was really pleased with our defence, if we continue with that kind of defence, we can beat anyone.

“We need to contain them, but if we play the way we did against Sheffield, we are capable of doing that.  They have multiple weapons, and it’s not just their starting five, they have guys who can come off the bench and hurt you – so there’s no point trying to key in on one player.”

Eagles’ coach Fab Flournoy is also expecting another high-tempo game as what is rapidly becoming THE rivalry in British basketball opens another chapter, “They’ve strung together a few wins, and Sterling seems to have settled in with his guys now. It’s going to be a tough game, we saw that when we went up there earlier in the season. For whatever reason we always seem to bring the best out of each other.

“Their key players are Sterling and Rob Yanders, who is one of the best point guards in the league. But Gareth Murray’s been playing tremendously well since the Commonwealth Games, he’s going from strength to strength and he’s capable of having a huge game against us. Moritz Wohlers and Maurice Hampton are both capable of being the X factor for Rocks, they always seem to raise their game against us – and that makes for some really entertaining games.”