London Capital takes MK Lions to the wire

A late surge from Lions saw Capital fall to their fourth defeat of the campaign against Lions at Bletchley Leisure Centre on Friday evening.

A 10-0 burst for the Lions bought them level at 67-67 in the final period. The Capital immediately responded with a 7-2 tear of their own to take the score out to 69-74.

Yorick Williams bagged a pair of free-throws for the Lions, and that was followed by a Gregg Harvey basket to get the Lions to within a point at 73-74.

A steal from Terrell Brown and a foul by the Raiders sent Brown to the foul-line with four seconds remaining. Brown held his nerve to sink both free-throws to secure the victory for the Lions.
Earlier in the game, the Capital had opened an eight point lead in the opening quarter at 23-15 off the back of a 6-0 run.

They increased their advantage in the third period to twelve points at 48-60 after an 8-0 burst before the Lions came back at them in the closing stages.

Williams led the Lions scoring with 18 points, while the Capital had Ibrahim Gariba and Lijah Perkins to lead their scorers with game-high 19 points apiece, with Santa Ataha adding eight.


London Capital's play-off dream ends

Capital’s play-off dreams in their inaugural BBL season came to an end as Sharks avenged their two previous league defeats to the London side.

James Whyte led the scoring for the victors with 18 points, whilst the backcourt pairing of Alto Virgil and Nathan Niesler added 16 and 15 respectively. Ibrahim Gariba led the resistance with a game-high 27 points.

Sharks led from the early stages as three-pointers from Niesler and Virgil contributed to an early 16-5 run that gave them an 18-7 lead, which became 22-10 after the opening ten minutes.

The hosts came back in the second stanza as a 10-2 tear narrowed the gap to four, but that would be as close as Sheffield would allow them to get as the visitors responded immediately by rattling off the next seven points, going in 36-27 to the good at the half.

The game was put beyond the hosts early in the third period as Sheffield posted a 20-5 surge, including five crucial points from Whyte and numerous trips to the free-throw line. The lead peaked early in the fourth quarter as the Sharks scored the first eight points and led 69-42.

The home side fought back from that point behind seven points from Pierre Henry-Fontaine and seven from Gariba, but the closest they could get was 76-60 in the final minute.

Article by Dave Ryan.

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