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| pic: Jack Hinds |
MANCHESTER GIANTS 73 - SHEFFIELD SHARKS 85
The Manchester Giants and Sheffield Sharks played out a Thriller in the BBL TROPHY at the Wright Robinson Sports College Thursday night. It may not have be looked upon by most basketball fans as a important game, Or though it wasn`t a Top of the table clash either it was certainly played like one.
Both sides want to this game a lot, As whenever the 2 Rose Counties contest anything you can pretty much expect a hard fought battle between Lancashire & Yorkshire, And this was no different too.
The two sides are level on points in the league, But nearer the bottom end of the table than top half. But this was another game to put alongside the previous classics between the Giants & Sharks over the years.
The Giants got the upper hand as they run out to a 13-5 lead ,With some good team passing leaving the Sharks completely stunned by how the Home side came out and played. As the Sharks had beaten their red rose rival 87-68 at the EIS Sheffield Sunday evening, And so the men from Manchester wanted to get even with their Yorkshire rival.
The Giants were on fire, As Ben Eaves and Devan Bailey made some great baskets as they danced through the Sheffield team driving hard to the paint geting easy lay ups and points on the board. Sheffield Sharks coach Atiba Lyons certainly didn`t like what he was watching and so called a Timeout. His message was to his troops seemed to work, as after their little conference they went on to score 7 unanswered points as the 1st Quarter ended with the Giants 13-12 up, Making it feel it like a chance to pull away squandered by the home side.
Q1: MANCHESTER GIANTS 13- 12 SHEFFIELD SHARKS
2nd Quarter, Sheffield started to get in the game more and stamp their mark on the game, As the home side was getting caught up in foul trouble a bit too much. Bringing the Sharks more and more into it, s they could sense blood as the scoreline was getting eaten into. Mike Bernard then made a great play as net the basket and draw the foul to which he drained his free throw attempt, Making it a 3 point play overall.
Sheffield took the lead from a Zachariah Gachette basket deep into the end of the 2nd Quarter as the Sharks had their Fins up you could say! Once the Sharks went ahead, Manchester seem to lose the knack of getting 3 pointers, instead of going for the normall baskets and seemed to play with a touch of panic too. As their Long range shooting was badly letting them down this night compared to previous games, where they had looked dangerous all season shooting them. Rebounding was becoming a problem too, Sheffield was taking them in with ease on both ends of the court Defense and Offense.Manchester heads seemed to were dropping abit as fouls, missed calls and some mistakes were cropping up again in the Giants ranks leading them to problems and giving the opposition a 8 points lead into the Half time break.
HALF TIME: MANCHESTER GIANTS 27 - 34 SHEFFIELD SHARKS
2nd half was still a tight affair with quite a lot of missed baskets for both sides, As it seemed the Visitors wanted to get the game over with as quick they could in the 3rd , And Manchester wanted to avoid going behind by 10 or more points. Devan Bailey was the main scoring threat it seemed for the Giants, The Sharks defence struggled to deal the slippery customer as he,Stefan Gill and David Watts was terrorising the Sheffield basket,But they were just lacking support at times.
As the 3rd Quarter grew on Watts & Bailey were keeping the Manchester side within touching distance of their opponents ,With Ben Eaves too getting into the game more as h has been a standout player pver the last couple of game and improved with every passing week. Final few seconds ticked down, but before it ended Stefan Gill stole the ball of a Sharks attacker and he plus Callum Jones dashed up court lay it up just before the horn sounded for 2pts to cut the deficit to 4pts instead of a 10 points advantage as the G men did well to get it down with in the last min or so.
Q3: MANCHESTER GIANTS 48 - 52 SHEFFIELD SHARKS
So as we entered the final quarter the the home fans were now lifted by their side more thanks to the Callum Jones basket to end to the quarter. The Giants players too seemed boosted by the the last score as the Sharks were nervous looking as they stepped out on the Court for the 4th installment. Sheffield tried to just stop the momentum the Giants were building up. But the home side still on a boost from the end of the 3rd, Retook the lead as a Devan Bailey 3 pointer from the middle of the court gave the hometown side a slim 1 point lead.
Sheffield restored the lead with a BJ Holmes basket, Leading to the Sharks drawing a couple of fouls to take a lead of 5 points. But once again the Giants came back ,Going on a scoring run of 11 points without conceding thanks to a couple of baskets by Gill &Watts who was firing them in now and Gave the G-men a 6 point advantage. The biggest advantage they had held since the start of the game.
But this contest was ebbing and flowing every couple of mins, As when it seemed one side looked like dominating the game , back came the other team. Sheffield`s Tuck and Gachette helped score baskets to keep the score close, Then a GOALTENDING call was given on a Sharks attack, Tied the game at 66 ALL, which seemed very generous for the away side & Unfortunate for the home side as it was deemed the Manchester man stopped it from going in, Which was garbage personally! As did the rest of the Giants faithful in the WRSC.
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| pic: Jack Hinds |
Timeout was taken by Jeff Jones Giants coach, With them needing a 3 for Overtime. So once the Officials were happy,play started up came to Gill to try and tie it, But he missed, leading to Jones and Gill giving away fouls to make the Away side go to the line. Giants need both Free throws to be missed and to gain control of the ball , And get as quick up the other end as they could.
The thought that Tuck would miss 2 Free Throws would be seen as mad as he was very competent at the throws all night for the Sharks. So when he missed the 1st and little bit of hope came the Home side way. His 2nd attempt bounced off the backboard and into the hands of Eaves who grabbed the rebound and passed it to straight to Watts at Mid court. And as he attempted to shoot a 3 pointer, he was fouled & sent flying by the man that should have won them the game. So now Manchester had a chance to tie the game as they were awarded 3 Free throws. Could there STILL be a twist in the tail to come??
David Watts stepped up to the line, Composed himself and made the 1st attempt to make the score 69-71, Made the second throw for 70-71...and brought the hosue down on his 3rd throw to tie the game!
Sheffield called a Full Timeout at 0:01, leaving them one last throw of the dice to nick it at the death in regulation. But the throw towards Jemison, where he just managed a fingertip on it, To direct his effort but it didn`t reach and dropped the other side ended this game after regulation 71 - 71, Meaning this Trophy match went to OVERTIME!
What should have been an exciting extra 5 mins turned into a bit of a damp squib really, As Sheffield took their chances, Where as Manchester didn`t score till 36 seconds from the end, When Bailey got 2 points as Sheffield just ran away with the game making the margin of victory by 12 this time, Which flattered them in all honestly as it was never much of a gap.
So GIANTS lost to their Pennine rivals and now look to Glasgow next week in the BBL, When new signing and Manchester-born GB Superstar Nick George is expected to make his debut for his Hometown team.
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