Basketball: Williams the sole threat to Sharks' domination
Sheffield Sharks 83 Scottish Rocks 7
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Your support makes all the difference.Sharks never looked like losing the British Basketball League Cup Final but failed to deliver the knock-out blow against a Rocks team which was on the point of being blown away when trailing by 21 points early in the second quarter at Birmingham's NIA yesterday.
The victory was reward for the season-to-season continuity Sharks prefer, giving them a championship for the eighth season out of the last 10 and a first for their rookie coach, Peter Scantlebury.
Their name is the first on the new trophy of a competition launched by the BBL when they withdrew their teams from the far more prestigious National Cup, after a row over the eligibility of Americans with the sport's governing body, England Basketball.
Few believed that Rocks could survive the loss of their 6ft 6in forward Nike Arinze, out for the season with anterior cruciate ligament damage, and sadly they rarely looked like they believed it either - except for Jerry Williams, a Shark last season, who led all scorers with 26 points.
Typically generous in victory, Scantlebury said: "They pushed us hard. We kept opening a gap and they kept coming back." When Sheffield opened the second quarter 11-0 in front, the gap became a chasm at 35-14 as Sharks turned Rocks inside out. Rocks were pummelled inside by Justin Phoenix, Lynard Stewart, H L Coleman and Richard Windle - all over 6ft 7in - then they hit from outside by Nate Reinking, Rob Yanders and Iain McKinney with three-pointers.
Williams scored Rocks' first seven points and dragged Rocks back into the game at 69-62 down in the fourth. Sharks went back to basics by putting the ball inside to Stewart, then closing the win from the free throw line.
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