BBL Trophy Preview: Sheffield Sharks vs Glasgow Rocks

by UK American Sports Fans

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Advantage Glasgow.

Sunday’s comfortable 85-65 win for the Rocks over the visiting Sheffield side puts the Scots in the box seat for the upcoming BBL Trophy quarter final at the English Institute of Sport.

The defeat merely compounded a miserable weekend for the Sharks, who also suffered a 107-86 dip against a wounded Newcastle Eagles on Friday and saw talismanic playmaker BJ Holmes carried off in the third quarter of the Glasgow game. Two road trips in atrocious conditions for scant reward will see Sheffield pleased to return to home surroundings where they defeated Glasgow previously, by 72-71 in the Cup and by 83-74 in the league and this time with a Trophy semi-final place at stake.

Everything looks rosy in Rocks Coach Sterling Davis’ garden at the moment. The win over Sheffield was their fourth in five games, good for a comfortable fifth place in the league table. Glasgow continue to excel as a team as demonstrated by the numbers put up by Mike Ringgold (18), Brice Fantazia (17) and Gareth Murray (13) in the Sheffield game. EJ Harrison (13.7ppg) and Donald Robinson (15.6ppg) add to that ethos and Davis must have been rightly pleased that new signing 6’ 10” Jamie Vanderbeken contributed a solid twenty minutes and will be able to fill the sizeable void left by the departure of Kieron Achara.

The Rocks take their place in the quarter finals on the back of a 72-61 win over fellow Scots the Edinburgh Kings and will be hoping the twenty point differential over the Sharks last weekend was a sign that they have the measure of the men from South Yorkshire.

Sheffield’s mini-revival came crashing to a halt with two significant road losses. To win in Newcastle was always going to be a tough ask; the Eagles were smarting from their BBL Cup final defeat to the Leicester Riders and some sort of backlash was almost inevitable. Joe Chapman (41pts) and old-adversary Charles Smith (22) were particularly severe on the Sharks but it was still pleasing to see eighteen point hauls for BJ Holmes and the ever-improving Demetrius Jemison; however, the defeat in Glasgow was humbling.

The Sharks have matched up to Glasgow twice and competed with success so to go down by such a large margin was particularly galling, especially for Sheffield Coach Atiba Lyons, who reportedly called for time at one stage and left his players to their own devices. BJ Holmes still managed a thirteen point game before being carried off with a shin injury and Holmes himself is unsure as to whether he’ll be able to take his place in the rotation on Friday night. Holmes’ absence would leave the Sharks to rotate the point between exciting rookie prospect Nick Lewis, fellow student athlete Zac Gachette and the free-scoring Micah Williams, who is averaging 15.5 this season. The Sharks enter the quarter final stage on the back of an 85-73 overtime win against Manchester Giants and will need similar battling qualities to re-assert themselves against the Rocks.

Tip-off is 7.30pm at the EISS.