Sharks clip Eagles’ wings previewing Playoff potential

Sheffield Sharks avenged Sunday’s 88-80 defeat at the hands of the Newcastle Eagles and laid down an early playoff marker with 70-60 success over their post season rivals.

Typical of a traditional Sharks – Eagles encounter, neither side gave any quarter with both benches receiving maximum exposure ahead of a playoff first leg to be held in Newcastle on April 12th and the return in Sheffield on Monday 15th April.

Starting Fives

Sharks: Jemison, Babalola, Tuck, Lewis, Holmes.

Eagles: Huffman, Defoe, Chapman, Smith, Ikhinmwin.

A high tempo marked the start of the encounter, positions and playoff match-ups already decided in what was essentially a dead rubber. However, Sharks / Eagles games historically mean so much more and it was the Sharks who took the score out to 10-2 with a Nick Lewis effort off the window. Lewis completed two similar scores before the period was out as a Bridge triple and a buzzer-beater from Zac Gachette left the Sharks on the high side at 22-9 after the initial ten minutes.

Tit-for-tat fouls punctuated the game right from the start; Jemison and Flournoy received a dual call only seconds after the restart and Chapman hit the three mark for Newcastle only three minutes in. Gachette looked fired up for Sheffield, contributing points, defensive blocks and rebounds to take the Sharks advantage to 22 points at 33-11. Maddox kept the Geordies in touch all night with a lithe display and nine points in the half. A Defoe two in the dying embers reduced the difference to 17 at 41-24 in the Sharks favour, although he collected his fourth foul before the sides went to the locker room.

It was noticeable that Newcastle coach Fab Flournoy distributed game time evenly throughout his bench, putting faith in the experience at his disposal. Sheffield Coach Atiba Lyons achieved this tenet too, BJ Holmes taking a long break from early in the third, whilst being mindful of the need for his side to seek out another victory and gain momentum going into the post-season. They signalled their intent early in the third via a Jemison ‘and one’ play although Newcastle hit back with threes from Chapman and Smith. A further triple from Huffman was followed by a technical for Maddox and a spell of confusion from the officials, which resulted in two scores from the line by Nick Lewis after Andrew Bridge had taken an initial attempt. Chapman picked up his fourth foul and two more from the charity stripe by Lewis saw the Sharks up by 59-43. Defoe joined the burgeoning list of his colleagues on four fouls and two more from the line by Bridge, this time following a Flournoy technical saw the quarter end at 62-43 in the Sharks favour.

The feisty affair was capped by a technical for Babalola at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Anthony Martin began the Newcastle comeback and a further seven points by Maddox saw the Sharks call for time at 65-53. Martin weighed in with seven more to draw the difference in at 67-60, albeit with only 46 seconds remaining to play. Three out of four free throws from the late introduction of Holmes once again put Sheffield up by ten at 70-60 and it was fitting that Nick Lewis was able to run the clock down and see the Sharks to a confidence-boosting victory.

A lively atmosphere in the EIS Blue Hall – due to be repeated in the Playoff 2nd leg – was added to in no small part by the travelling Newcastle faithful. This seemed to spur the Sheffield fans on to raise their voices and guide Sharks home to a momentum-building win; a fact that didn’t go un-noticed by Sharks MVP Nick Lewis: “I appreciate all the fans coming out to the game. I always love to feed off the energy from our fans which helped me to have a good game!”

If the two games in the last three days are anything to go by, both sets of fans will have plenty to cheer about as they set about trying to be involved at Wembley on April 28th.

Play of the Game

Rested for the best part of the third and fourth quarters, BJ Holmes underlined why he is so important to the Sharks with startling vision towards the end of the second period. Holmes picked out Colin Sing from mid-way in his own half, for Sing to finish on the alley-oop and put his side up by 39-17. The quick, long pass or being prepared to bring the ball up court and use every second of the 24, Holmes has the vision and know-how to do either and must surely rank as one of the most complete Point Guards in the BBL today. Sing has ability and youthful enthusiasm in abundance and merely needs to adhere to the advice from his Coach today (‘get dirty’) to fulfil that promise.

Game MVP

Nick Lewis is now a fully-fledged Sharks starter, Lewis provides a valuable outlet when opposing sides focus all their attention on the guile provided by BJ Holmes. Several drives into the paint by the young Guard set Sheffield off to a famous win, collecting rebounds and steals along the way to show multiple facets to his game.

A double-double achieved by the end of the third quarter contained only one three point score, another area in which Lewis usually excels and some steady nerves from the free throw line capped an outstanding stat line of 19 points, 12 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 1 block. Make no mistake, the Sharks are no ‘one trick pony’ and Newcastle will have to be aware of the threat from the whole Sheffield bench if they are to salvage something from an unusually quiet season in the North East.

Next Up

One Health Sharks Sheffield at Cheshire Phoenix, Sunday 7th April, 5.30pm, Northgate Arena.

Glasgow Rocks at Newcastle Eagles, Friday 5th April, 7.30pm, Sport Central.

(Image: mphotography.org.uk)