Eagles look to maintain advantage
Newcastle Eagles v Sheffield Sharks 10th February 2012
BBL Trophy Semi-Final Second Leg Preview
The fallout from last Friday’s BBL Trophy semi-final first leg between these two sides has awoken the relatively small world of the BBL into a frenzy of accusations, counterclaims, conspiracy theories and downright lunacy at times. Perhaps we can return to normalcy on Friday night at Sport Central? Hmmm.
Last week in Sheffield, the Sharks appeared to have landed on the mat at the bottom of what has been a helter skelter ride of a season. The team imploded against Newcastle Eagles in a shower of technical and unsportsmanlike fouls. The evening’s nadir was reached when coach Atiba Lyons was ejected for his second technical foul and refused to leave the courtside. The resulting stand off between the match officials and Atiba is an embarrassment for all parties concerned. Subsequent rants on Twitter by Lyons and other Sharks officials coupled with comments on British Basketball blogs and forums have implied that the BBL Trophy semi final’s outcome may have externally influenced. Incendiary stuff.
The claims have been two fold.
Firstly that the referees were inept and biased towards Newcastle, mainly due to a low foul count for the visitors, who played their usual pressing defence, in the early stages. The final foul count was Sheffield 16, Newcastle 17. Without taking technical fouls into account, Sheffield had 21 foul shots and Newcastle 17. I’m not suggesting for a minute that statistics tell the whole story of a game, but these stats clearly indicate that the foul calling was not as one sided as some would suggest. Bad mouthing the officials is something of a pastime for a few on BBL sidelines but it was taken to a whole new level on Friday.
The second is the allegation that Atiba Lyons did not suit up as a player for the game as he had been de-registered by the BBL due to money owed as part of the current BBL Sky agreement. Some have even gone so far as to suggest that Newcastle Eagles’ and BBL chairman Paul Blake used his influence to ensure Lyons sat out this important game, quite an incredible accusation given the integrity of Paul, earlier results between the two clubs and the player in question’s contribution to those games. Whispers of absentees for Sharks in previous BBL games, notably Jimmy Langhurst, suffering the same fate had been heard on the BBL grapevine too. In the case of Atiba certainly there appears to be no smoke without fire and Sharks are allegedly behind with payments to the League.
The storm appears to have subsided with Sharks appearing repentant and both Newcastle Eagles and BBL officials wisely refusing to be drawn in to the mire. The game itself is now, of course, a dead rubber following the Eagles 32 point blow out win in the first leg but the whether either team will approach it as such is unlikely following this week’s events. Atiba Lyons misses the game as a result of his ejection and with Nate Reinking still an injury absentee Sharks look like being under strength for the encounter. Newcastle Eagles look to extend their winning streak with a full healthy roster. Whatever happens we’re sure in for an interesting night at Sport Central.
