Lions keep pressure on Sharks with ninth win of season

MARSHALL MK Lions strolled past Essex Pirates for the second time this season to keep the pressure on BBL leaders Sheffield Sharks.

EJ Harrison top scored with 28 for the Lions as they picked up their tenth win in eleven, with a 99-70 victory.

The Lions dominated early possession and stretched a 20 point lead before a second quarter fight-back from the Pirates ensured the Lions only led 47-34 at the break.

But with Dawud Morris adding 21 and Frank Holmes another 16, the Lions had too much firepower for the Pirates as they slipped to their sixth league defeat of the season.

The Sharks maintained their four point lead over the Lions after a narrow win at Jelson Homes DMU Leicester Riders.

BBL leading scorer Mike Cook was in rampant form again for the Sharks as he notched 32 points in their 104-99 win.  The Sheffield side banished any memories of their opening day defeat to the Riders.

Leicester's Tack Minor is second in the BBL scoring leaderboard and stood toe-to-toe with Cook on the day, also bagging 32 points.

Although the Sharks established a 56-46 lead at half-time, the two sides were inseparable after the break and were tied at 90-90 with only a few minutes left on the clock.

But the Riders couldn't compete with Sheffield at the death with Ryan Patton also notching 28 points for the Sharks and Tafari Toney recording a double-double of 18 points and 15 rebounds.

Elsewhere, Cheshire Jets picked up their seventh win of the season with a 96-80 victory at Worcester Wolves.

Harry Disy's 24 points helped the Wolves to 50-50 at half-time but the Jets had too much in the second half with Shawn Myers and Paul Peterson top scoring for the visitors with 16 each.

Finally, Worthing Thunder put an end to their three-game losing streak with a 92-69 win against PAWS London Capital.

Reggie Bratton led the way for the Thunder with 28 while Sherrad Prezzie-Blue and Ville Makalainen also contributed with 22 and 21 respectively.