Langhurst and Dobbins could return against Heat

by UK American Sports Fans

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BBL Championship preview – Friday 13th January 2012
One Health Sharks Sheffield vs Guildford Heat

Both Sheffield’s Atiba Lyons and Guildford’s Creon Raftopoulos will be hoping that the better times have returned and that this Friday the 13th’s upcoming BBL Championship fixture will be no ‘horror show.’

Lyons’ Sharks will head into the game on the back of a convincing 90-77 win over Cheshire Jets made in the face of adversity with only six players used on the night. One of the missing players that night, Jimmy Langhurst, is back in the UK and hopefully will have recovered from the jetlag in order to take his place back in the team. Ebullient Centre Justin Dobbins is reporting improvement in the back injury that forced him to miss the Jets encounter and the return of these two crucial players would almost certainly bring a smile of relief to the face of Coach Lyons.

That said, the six used last Friday performed admirably. Nate Reinking made the BBL Team of the Week for his 25 points versus Cheshire and it was only the statistical formula that prevented recognition for Olu Babalola, who put up 27 points in a robust display of power and passion. Added to this some valuable work under the basket at both ends for Mike Tuck and useful cameos from Zac Gachette and Colin Sing then the Sharks will be relishing the task of taking on a Heat side that lay ninth in the table with a 3-8 record.

That said, Guildford are putting up a decent recovery after an awful start to the season. Coach Raftopoulos has made many changes to his roster and finally looks to have hit upon a winning formula. The Heat put up an impressive 92-89 overtime win against the Jets on Sunday to follow 99-67 wins over Durham and 82-76 over Mersey. Forward Tayo Ogedengebe registered 32 points in the Cheshire game to make Team of the Week and the recruitment of Drew Lasker (averaging 17.48 in his BBL career) looks to be a shrewd piece of business on Creon’s part. The Heat are vastly changed from their earlier 86-75 loss to the Sharks at Surrey Sports Park earlier in the season and one can’t help feeling that Lasker, Martin, Holmes, McLemore and Joseph et al will be a much tougher prospect this time around.

Here’s hoping that no black cats cross anybody’s paths before the 7.30pm tip off at the English Institute of Sport!