Riders take healthy lead to Loughborough
BBL Championship Playoff Quarter Final First Leg
One Health Sharks Sheffield 76 Leicester Riders 92
Advantage Leicester after the first forty minutes but it could so easily have been much much more. Demonstrative Coach Rob Paternostro was fuming that his Riders side had thrown away a thirty point lead that would have virtually guaranteed easy passage into the semi finals. As such, Sheffield Sharks cling to slim hopes of a comeback going into the Sky-televised second leg at Loughborough University on Sunday.
Despite Olu Babalola nailing the first score, the opening twenty minutes was all about the visitors. Serious deja-vu was being suffered by the Sheffield fans as the game reverted to recent type with the visitors racing into a 15-29 early lead. Paramount to this advantage was the free-scoring Bradd Wierzbicki, who rattled up 14 early points with his deadly accuracy from three point country.
A Ryan Patton three closed the gap to eleven at 21-32 but a seven-nil run by the Riders left a hefty twenty point gap by the half time buzzer with the scores standing at 31-51. The basketball being played by Leicester was a joy to behold as positions became almost irrelevant. Rundles interchanged with Wierzbicki, with Hardy, with Sherlock, with Sullivan, with Williams as mastery of the half threatened to kill the tie stone dead. One constant factor for the Sharks was the sheer hard work of forward Olu Babalola, who squirmed his way to the basket on more than one occasion to barely keep the homesters in touch.
Leicester’s dominance continued throughout the third stanza. The lead was increased to 24 at 54-78 going into the final quarter, hallmarked by an outstanding move as the ball made its way round the arc to find Yorick Williams in the corner, who delivered the killer three. Six more points early in the fourth saw the Riders pull the difference out to thirty at 54-84. A tidy night’s work for the Midlanders and easy passage into the semi-finals despite another forty minutes play remaining.
But no! Sheffield rallied to a 22-8 finish to see the scores at 76-92. An almost certainly fit Nate Reinking contributed eleven points in the closing stages as the game ended with the margin narrowed down to just sixteen points. Reinking was aided to this end as Tuck (17) and an unleashed Jimmy Langhurst went to work with Riders Coach Paternostro becoming visibly more agitated. Tuck was awarded the official Sharks MVP plaudits on the night but a healthy return of 23 for Babalola spread throughout the game seemed to reflect the best of another erratic Sharks display.
So the Sharks cling to slim hopes of overturning an impressive Leicester side in the unfamiliar surroundings of Loughborough on Sunday afternoon. Rob Paternostro was clearly annoyed that Leicester had thrown away a thirty point advantage but must have been pleased with his side’s early dominance. The Riders should have the strength and depth to hang on to the tie, but with the Sharks having overturned a twenty one point deficit the previous week, it was clear to see why the excitable American-Italian was on edge come the final buzzer. Sheffield must allow court-time to the shooting trio of Patton, Reinking and especially Langhurst, backed-up by the hard-working Olu Babalola to give themselves a chance of further progression. Failure to do so will see Player / Coach / Director Atiba Lyons drawing a line under a non-productive 2011-12 season with a view to re-inventing the wheel in 2012-13. Forty minutes in the Leicestershire satellite will seal their fate!
