All Daye, Every Daye! – One Health Sharks Sheffield 90 Cheshire Jets 59
BBL Cup
12 October 2012
One Health Sharks Sheffield 90 Cheshire Jets 59
The legendary Mike Shaft returned to the EIS after his sabbatical, a team from Sheffield won and all was right with the world once again in South Yorkshire as the One Health Sharks Sheffield comprehensively beat the Cheshire Jets in this BBL Cup tie.
A ten minute delay to tip off due to popularist comedian Michael McIntyre at the nearby Sheffield Arena couldn’t dampen the spirits of the under-par Sheffield basketball public as their Sharks side tore a strip off the Jets, who had been building nicely since their dramatic phoenix-from-the-flames rebirth just weeks before the BBL season began.
Starting Fives:
Sharks: Tuck, Daye, Babalola, Bridge, Williams
Jets: Haskins, Bland, Moore, Brandreth, Marks
The bespectacled Alif Bland opened the scoring for Cheshire but that was as far as their dominance went as a 9-8 lead for the Sharks with 5.08 of the first period remaining turned into cakewalk for the rest of the fixture. Two impressive Bridge treys allied with a Gage Daye maximum saw the Sharks hold a comprehensive 23-15 lead after the initial period.
The second stanza followed suit. An early Babalola fadeaway for 2 set the tone as triples from Tuck and Williams increased the Sheffield dominance. Chez Marks did his upmost to get the Jets back into the tie but the score of 49-26 at the half signified a solid twenty minutes of team ball from the Sharks with rebounding and point scoring being shared evenly throughout the Sheffield side.
Honours were even in the third period, sixteen apiece, as the Sharks began to utilise some of their bench time, seeing George Brownell replace the influential Mike Tuck. A Daye maximum and sharp play involving Bridge, Williams and Tuck being the key events in a ten minutes that saw the score reaching 65-42 with just one quarter remaining.
Into the fourth and the Jets utilised some of their rotation, an air of inevitability having crept over the outcome of the tie. Impressive three’s from Cheshire’s Niel Gillard and Sheffield’s Gage Daye saw the scores rest at 70-49. A bizarre ricochet through the net off a Jets man saw Sharks captain Tuck get credited with two points despite not being on the court and with Bland unfortunately reaching five fouls with 3.53 to play, the game saw itself drawing to an inevitable conclusion. Steve Gordon achieved court-time for Sheffield and threes from Sheffield bencher George Brownell and a buzzer beater from Chez Marks saw the game conclude with the scores at 90-59.
Play of the Game
A monsterous block by Mike Tuck that led the inspirational Mike Shaft to utter that no-one was welcome in ‘The Friar’s’ house kind of summed up the dominance of the Sharks throughout the whole forty minutes. It was this ‘back to basics’ approach that paid dividends for the Sharks the entire evening long.
Game MVP
‘Captain Marvel’ Tuck. Two weeks of back-to-basics practice produced dividends as the big Canadian asserted his considerable presence in guiding the Sharks to a next round tie against Glasgow or Manchester.
Game quotes
A fired-up Atiba Lyons was pleased with his side’s result on the night. ‘We took care of the ball and did a job on the glass. We finally played with a sense of urgency and now the young guys understand what it takes to win a game in the BBL.’
Next Up
One Health Sharks Sheffield at Surrey Heat, Sunday 14 October 2012, 3pm, Surrey Sports Park.
Worcester Wolves at Cheshire Jets, Sunday 14 October 2012, 5.30pm, Northgate Arena.
Photo courtesy of Rob McPherson & Catherine Moore of Mphotography.org.uk
