The BallinEurope man in the UK, Sam Chadwick gets us up to date on action in the British Basketball League, interrupted briefly by a squall of tweets by Tayo Ogedengbe vis-a-vis a bizarre incident in the Plymouth Raiders-Guildford Heat game…
The British Basketball League (BBL) Championship has entered into its second week while the BBL Trophy also continued; the weekend saw three Championship games and two Trophy games.
In the first game of the weekend, Mersey Tigers lost out in the Trophy vs. the Cheshire Jets, 74-62. The Jets were led by Matt Schneck’s 22-point, 11-rebound double-double while shooting a ridiculous 82% from the field; Schneck was supported by Adam Brown who had a great all-around game of six rebounds, seven assists and 15 points. For the Tigers, David Aliu came up big with 17 points, three rebounds and three assists while Kris Douse had 12 points and 13 rebounds but shot a miserable 29%.
One Health Sheffield Sharks had a bad weekend in the Championship, losing 86-67 to the Newcastle Eagles. For the Eagles, Joe Chapman had 30 points, Paul Gause had 20 points and nine rebounds, while player-coach Fabulous Flournoy (who quite possibly has the coolest name in the BBL) had six rebounds, eight assists, eight points of 67% shooting. For the losing Sharks, Justin Dobbins continued his double-double averages with 18 points, 13 rebounds on 73% shooting. Mike Tuck also contributed a double-double of 15pts and 12 rebounds while Team Britain point guard Nate Rainking had 16 points and five rebounds but also committed five turnovers.
Glasgow Rocks lost out to Worcester Wolves, 78-73, in the Championship on Saturday. The Rocks got 21 points, eight rebounds, five assists and four steals in a great game for Mychal Green, though unfortunately he couldn’t lead his team to a win. E.J. Harrison also had 18 points and four rebounds for Glasgow. Worcester had 21 points and five rebounds from Sherrad Prezzie-Blue, David “Tin-Tin” Watts had a good game on the boards, grabbing 11 rebounds while also contributing eight points, while Callum Jones had five rebounds, 16 points and hit 86% from the field.
On Saturday, Plymouth Raiders beat the Guildford Heat in the Trophy to advance to the Quarter Finals, 87-83, in a close game which had a little controversy (http://www.mvp247.com/2011/10/foxy-notsy/) as the Plymouth mascot pulled down the shorts of the Guildford Heat’s Martelle McLemore. For Plymouth, Anthony Rowe had a 20-point, 12-rebound double-double, Ben Smith had 18 points, while Lehmon Colbert and Paul Williams both had 14 points and seven rebounds. For the Heat, McLemore put up a solid stat line of 21 points, seven rebounds, three assists and three steals, while the ever-efficient Mike Martin contributed with a 14-point 14-rebound double-double. Tayo Ogedengbe also had 14 points and eight rebounds.
[On the mascot incident, Ogedengbe tweeted up a storm thereafter:Only in the BBL can a mascot pull down a visiting players shorts in the middle of the game, and the refs do nothing???? ACB, Pro A/B NEVER!
Never seen anything like it in my life #smh BBL step your game up for the sake of British basketball, please I beg u, as a English player
Soo D Wade goes to Toronto with the Heat for an away game and there mascot the dinosaur pulls down his shorts in a 2 point game…
It just wouldn’t happen…….. Fix up
Ok I’m done, hoping someone high up in the BBL is reading…
@BBLFans a player on my team, should not happen in a professional, premiership environment
Right. Back to the column.]
Sunday saw the final game of the weekend with Glasgow Rocks taking on the Milton Keynes Lions. The Rocks took a huge 115-88 win as seven players contributed double figures for the Rocks. The Lions had 22 turnovers in the loss. Gareth Murray led the winning side with 20 points and five assists, while Deaundre Cranson had 19 points, 10 rebounds and shot 80% from the field. Green continued his solid play with 17 points, five assists, four steals and four rebounds; Sterling Davis shot 70% on his way to 17 points. For the Lions, Demarius Bolds had his second 30-plus game with 34 points added to his eight rebounds and five steals. Daniel Northern was the Lions’ only other real contributor with a 19-point (78% on FGs), 12-rebound double-double.
That wraps up the weekend’s BBL games here in the UK. Check back soon for more British Basketball news.
Sam Chadwick is the co-head coach of the Solent Kestrels U14 basketball team, along with dividing the remainder of his time among an assistant quantity surveyor job, university studies and sportswriting. You can follow him on Twitter at @chadwick9.
