BBL Results: 25th February – 26th February

Leicester Riders secured their place in the BBL Trophy Final with a 64-84 victory away at Cheshire Phoenix completing a convincing overall success.

The defending champions trailed after 10 minutes on the night, but responded with a huge second period en route to a 135-175 triumph on aggregate.

Taylor King top scored with 19 points with four players reaching double figures as the Riders extended their club-record win streak to 14 games.

The home side made an 8-2 start and still led by the end of the first period despite being pegged back by the Riders. However, the game changed in the second as Leicester went on a 15-2 run in the midst of racking up 34 points to establish an 18-point lead at the half.

The damage had been done with Cheshire needing to win the second half by at least 38 points, though they continued to fight and shared the third period to halt their opponents’ charge.

Leicester edged the final quarter to secure back-to-back 20-point wins to book their place at the Emirates Arena in style.

Dii’jon Allen-Jordan scored 19 points off the bench for Cheshire, but they were unable to overturn the first-leg deficit and focus now turns to their push for the Play-Offs.

The Riders have now reached the BBL Trophy Final in four of the last five years and will play Plymouth Raiders on 19 March.

Glasgow Rocks closed the gap on the league’s top two after beating Plymouth Raiders 98-80 behind an impressive shooting display from long range.

The home side continued to pull away throughout the game as they improve to a 16-5 record, whilst claiming the head-to-head between the two sides.

Kieron Achara finished with a game-high 26 points, while Gareth Murray and Neil Watson added 20 points apiece as the trio made 15 3-pointers between them.

Watson opened with back-to-back triples and added a third late in the opening period as both teams struggled to get going with Plymouth shooting below 25% after the first.

The visitors made a better start to the second and quickly doubled their points total, but Kieron Achara knocked down consecutive threes to help the Rocks establish a 34-24 advantage.

Glasgow made nine threes in the first half, but it was a triple from Daryl Corletto – who finished with 21 points – that ended the half as his side went into the interval, down 45-36.

The Rocks continued to find their range from downtown in the third as the lead increased to 15 points before another strong surge in the fourth. Plymouth trailed by as many as 24 points and produced a late run, but it was not enough as they fell to their 10th league defeat.

The Raiders will return to the Emirates Arena for the BBL Trophy Final on 19 March.

BBL Championship
Manchester Giants 71 (11,30,47) (Okoro 16, Jones 14, Trobo 11)
Leeds Force 81 (22,39,54) (Isenbarger 21, Sandoval 19, Marsden/Matthew 14)

Leeds Force avoided dropping to the bottom of the BBL Championship after beating Manchester Giants 71-81 for their fifth league victory.

Jack Isenbarger led the way with 21 points, while Robert Sandoval added valuable support with 19 points along with nine assists as he narrowly missed out on a double-double.

After an even start, Eddie Matthew exploded for all of his 14 points in a 16-2 burst to help Force establish lead 6-20. The Giants responded with a 12-0 run across quarters, only for Leeds to respond in kind with the next 12 points.

The lead was cut to single figures at the half, and despite trailing by 14 in the third, the Giants halved their deficit ahead of the final period.

Manchester closed to within three early in the fourth, but were kept at bay and a 9-2 run from the visitors proved decisive as they wrapped up the victory.

Jerelle Okoro led the Giants with 16 points but they remain bottom with a 4-21 record as they face a tough battle to make the Play-Offs.