The Everton Tigers will be looking to end a run of four straight losses against the SAMG Verve Scottish Rocks when the teams meet at Greenbank Academy on Friday evening.

Coach Henry Mooney is hoping to dispel that hoodoo against their BBL Championship Playoff rivals this week, “They play good team basketball, but they seem to be on a bit of a down-turn at the moment, so it might be a good time to play them.

“Sterling [Davis] and [Rob] Yanders are obviously their key players but Maurice Hampton does a great job for them as well. He’s explosive, and they’ve killed us in transition. We’ve taken them to overtime this season, but they’re one of the two sides we’re yet to beat. We don’t match up very well with them, and they still need to win a game to get fifth so it’s going to be tough.”

Tigers go into the game on the back of a 106-82 hammering at Guilford Heat, and Mooney was disappointed by his side’s performance, “We just didn’t play well, Tony Robertson was the only one who played well for us. Tony Dorsey was awesome, and he’s still clearly one of the best players in the BBL. It seemed like they didn’t miss a shot, and although we got it back to three points, they went on 15-0 run to wrap it up. We had a couple of time-outs and tried to change things, but we just couldn’t stop them.”

With his team needing one more victory to wrap up fifth place, Rocks coach Sterling Davis knows it will be a tough game on the road against an Everton side boasting two GB internationals, “They’ve got a good inside game, and some good shooters. We need to slow the game down and rebound well as they like to run as much as possible. If we can limit their key players we’ll have a chance.

“Calvin Davis has been playing a lot better recently, and their two guards – Richard Midgley and Tony Robinson – have been playing well. We need to know where they are at all times and be prepared to defend them aggressively. Having said that, a lot of them can step up, so it’ll be a tough game down there.”

The closest Everton came to beating the Rocks was in their first meeting when they went down 80-74 at Braehead in October. The lead changed hands five times in the final quarter, and Sterling Davis put the Rocks 70-68 in front with 34 seconds remaining, with Robertson leveling the game for Everton with 12 seconds remaining, and forcing overtime.  In the extra period, the Rocks' Maurice Hampton took control netting six points in a 9-2 run to give the Rocks the victory. 

Team Birmingham Panthers will look to wrap up their home campaign with a victory when they host Everton Tigers on Saturday evening.

The Panthers snapped an eleven game losing streak when they beat Everton’s North-West rivals, the BiG Storage Cheshire Jets, at the weekend after a last-gasp Dan Sandell shot from halfway.  Coach Nigel Lloyd looked ahead to the game with the Tigers, “They are one of the top teams personnel-wise and they will be getting ready for the play-offs. It’s our last home game and I expect it to be very tough. It will be their last game to prepare for the play-offs.

“They are a big team physically, and they have two great guards in Richard Midgley and Tony Robertson. We haven’t actually played against Midgley this season, and we haven’t even been able to scout him, but we’ve read plenty about him. Robinson is always a hard match-up for us, he shoots the ball well and he’s similar to Jayson Obazuaye at Jets. David Aliu is also having a good season, and we’ll need to look out for him.”

Sunday’s 100-97 win at the Jets, only their sixth of the campaign, left Lloyd a delighted man, “It was a really good, gutsy effort. I think the guys that started hit 96 points between them, and Sean Jones who we signed from Telford hit the first three of his career.

“We were down the whole game, but we kept battling, and I think we outworked them in the end. The practice and the fitness work we’ve done all season really paid off. We set a shot up for Dan Sandell with 15 seconds left, he missed the three but got his own rebound, and sunk the shot. Marlon [Jules] then stole the ball from behind Jayson Obazuaye and passed to Dan for another three. It was a great way to end the game.”

While Panthers have only pride to play for, Tigers are still looking to seal seventh place in the final table.

“Obviously they’ve struggled this season”, said Coach Mooney, “but they managed to beat Cheshire last week, so it shows we have to turn up and play well if we’re going to win.

“Our away record has been poor, we’ve only won three times, so we’ll try to finish the league season with a win. We are still looking to get seventh, and I think we’ll need to win both games this weekend to get that.”

Tigers have won both previous games between the teams this season, 94-76 away from home in November and by exactly the same score at home a fortnight later.

The Worcester Wolves host the PAWS London Capital on Saturday as they look to wrap up their regular season campaign with a home victory.

 The sides have split the two games between them this season, Capital winning 89-61 at home in October, when the Wolves were in the midst of a 1-9 start to their league campaign, before Wolves gained revenge the following month with a 103-96 victory, that sparked a run of three wins in four games.

Worcester coach Skouson Harker is looking to go into the play-offs with a victory on Saturday evening, “We’re still in with a chance of seventh, so we’re hoping that Scottish Rocks beat Everton on Friday, but it’s going to be tough against London. They’ve stepped up defensively recently, and although they are a bit inexperienced at this level, they have a lot of guys who can step up and do some damage.

“People like Pierre Henry-Fontaine and Mansour M’beye have really contributed for them but, despite all their changes during the season, Sam Bradley had been a constant threat for them offensively.”

Wolves bounced back from their 106-79 at Guildford Heat to defeat the BiG Storage Cheshire Jets 96-91 on Saturday, a result that pleased Harker, “We played well. We had to adjust because Chuck Evans was missing after banging his knee. Michael Gayle came in and did a good job. He played a lot minutes and really helped us. We played well enough to win, but James [Life] isn’t fully fit either, so it was a good result. Chuck also struggled at Guildford last week, he was only 70 percent, and playing on it made it worse. We were in trouble from the word go down there.”

London coach Steve Bucknall is looking forward to the game, even though his side can no longer reach the post-season, “It should be interesting. I remember when Worcester joined the league last season, anyone could beat them. But they’ve improved their infrastructure, stayed with it, and they’re playing well. They seem to be in good shape and they’ll be aiming to finish as high as possible because I guess they’d prefer to play at Guildford than Newcastle in the playoffs.

“We’ve nothing to lose, so we’ll go out to enjoy ourselves. We did that at Leicester and it was another good win. We’re playing with confidence, and the guys are still hungry for more victories. It took time after we changed the team at Christmas, but with the pressure off, we’ve done well. Worcester have shown what can be done in your second season in the league, and we’ll look to make the same improvement next year.”

Bucknall knows that Wolves’ high-scoring pair Anthony Paez and James Life will present a challenge to his side, “Life and Paez are both very good players, and we’ve struggled to control them in previous games, I guess we’ll see how far we’ve come. It will be tough to win at their place.”

The Guildford Heat will aim to secure second place in the BBL Championship table when they travel to the Jelson Homes DMU Leicester Riders on Saturday evening.  They need just one win from their remaining two games to ensure that the Kularoos Plymouth Raiders cannot surpass them.

Heat have won all three games against the Riders this season – including a BBL Cup quarter-final match-up – and having seen his side lose 82-79 against PAWS London Capital last week, Leicester’s coach Martin Ford expects a better display from his side in their last home game of the season, “You can get away without boxing out against some teams, but certainly not against Capital. We needed to slow the ball down and execute, but we let Sam Bradley go four from five in the first period and Ibrahim Gariba was allowed to dominate the offensive boards. By half-time, three of our starters hadn’t scored.

“Carlos White had to go home in the week as his mother is very ill, but luckily Barry Lamble must have read my notes in the programme. I said that someone needed to step up in Carlos’ absence, and he did. He had a tremendous game and he finished with 18 boards, 14 points, four assists, two blocks and two steals. He had a great game, and the disappointment is that no one went with him.

“I’ve said before that any team that doesn’t play for 40 full minutes in this league will lose, regardless of who they are playing against.

“I just hope that this weekend the team will come out and play for Chad [McKnight] and Rod [Wellington] as they face their old club. I’m asking those two to be really focused, and the rest to help them. I want them to show the supporters what could have been.”

Heat go into the game after a 106-82 home win against Everton Tigers, leaving coach Paul James a happy man, “It was a good win, we were down three players and James Jones played in the first half even though he probably shouldn’t have. But the other guys stepped up and produced a very authoritative and clinical performance, which I was very pleased about.”

Despite the difference in league positions between the teams, James expects a tough game in the midlands, “Their season hasn’t gone as well as Martin would have liked, and I think he’s found it tougher than he thought it would be. They have some good performances, and they’ve got a lot of talent. When they all play together they are very tough opposition.”

“We’re playing really well at the moment, and we’re coming good at the right time for the play-offs. It would be a real testament to everyone at the club if we can get the runners-up spot after the adversity we’ve been through. I hope we can get through the weekend unscathed and look to move on to the play-offs.”
w/e 13-Apr    

Newly crowned league champions Newcastle Eagles will look to complete a clean sweep of league victories against the Marshall MK Lions when they travel to Bletchley on Friday evening.

Lions lifted the first piece of silverware in their long history when they defeated the Eagles 69-66 in the BBL Cup final at the NIA in January, but since then Fab Flournoy’s team have exacted revenge on two occasions. The meeting at the MetroRadio Arena in March saw Eagles win 87-78, and they repeated that victory a fortnight ago with an 82-68 success.

Lions’ Coach Vince Macaulay admitted to being disappointed as Lions suffered a 22-point home loss against Worcester Wolves on Friday, although they bounced back with a comfortable victory against Team Birmingham two days later, “Obviously we were disappointed to only get one from two. Wolves showed a lot more aggression that we did. We never got out of first gear, and they were much hungrier than we were.

“As I said last week, Birmingham are undermanned, and we took the opportunity to rest some of the big guys and give others some more minutes. It was a good game played in good spirit.”

Macaulay had praise for Eagles after their title victory against Guildford last Sunday, “I’d like to extend our congratulations to Newcastle for winning the championship. They were the only team who deserved it, and I’m pleased that their hard work has paid off for them. To win it on Guildford’s floor must have been even sweeter.

“I expect Fab [Flournoy] will still want to win as many games as possible, and that they will come out and play hard as usual. I was surprised to see Steve Leven score 30 points against Guilford, as I never saw him as a high scorer. It’s always been about Lynard Stewart, Olu Babalola and Darius Defoe when we’ve played them. It’s been a battle of the big men, and I don’t expect it to be any different this time.”

Newcastle captain Andrew Bridge knows there will be no prisoners taken when the rivals meet in Lions’ final home league game of the campaign, “It’ll be tough there. There were a couple of incidents last time we played against them. We’ll play hard, but the main thing is not to pick up any injuries.”

Eagles are hoping to have star forward Charles Smith back in training this week, as Bridge explains.  “We’re hoping that Charles will get the all-clear to play this time. I don’t imagine he’ll play on Friday, but if it goes well, he’ll play some minutes against Sheffield. He’ll have 20 days of practice before the play-off starts, and that’s a nice amount of time to come back. We’re playing a bit differently without him, so that gives everyone plenty of time to adjust.”

Two of the BBL’s form teams meet at the EIS on Friday evening as Sheffield Sharks host Kularoos Plymouth Raiders. Sharks go into the game with four straight victories under their belts, a run that has seen them become favourites to take sixth spot in the final table, while 12 wins in their last 14 games have given Raiders the chance to take the runners-up spot.

Raiders coach Gary Stronach knows his side face a tough game in Yorkshire, “They are certainly on a run, they’ve won their last four and Scants has got them playing really well. I saw their game on Setanta against Riders, and they followed that with a 30 point win against Worcester Wolves, so he’s got them playing at the right time for the play-offs.

“We’ve beaten them twice at the Pavilions, but it’ll be a different game at the EIS on Saturday. They are playing some tough defence, and their guards are really filling it up. White had 32 against Wolves, and I really like his game, while Neisler, Chaney and Alto Virgil are all shooting the ball well. Lyons is getting in form, and they are sharing the ball around well.

“We’re coming off a rest having not played for nearly two weeks, but we’ve won 12 of our last 14 games, and I think it’ll be a great game.”

His Sharks counterpart Pete Scantlebury is pleased with his recent form, “The players know what they have to do, and they have started to play as a team. Obviously we would have liked to have gelled earlier, but it’s good to go into the play-offs as one of the form teams.”

Scantlebury hopes that his side can continue their good run when they face Plymouth, “We have three games left, and two of them are against sides we haven’t beaten yet, Newcastle and Plymouth, so we want to see if we can knock off the top two.

“Drew Lasker has been playing well for them, and he’s done a really good job, but the unsung hero for me is DeAntoine Beasley, he does all the hard work for them and doesn’t get a lot of credit.”

Sharks’ first trip to The Pavilions in December saw a comfortable 71-57 victory for the home side, thanks to good runs in the second and third periods. Terrence Durham led the Raiders’ scoring with 17 points, but it was Justice Graham who led all scorers with 18 points for the Sharks.

Their second trip to the West Country proved equally futile as they went down 85-73.  Leading scorer Drew Lasker had 27 points, whilst DeAntoine Beasley added 17 and Gaylon Moore 11.  Shelby Chaney led the Sharks with 14.

Sheffield Sharks coach Peter Scantlebury is hoping that his side’s recent good run will continue when they travel to Team Birmingham Panthers on Saturday,  “We’ve lost to them once already, but they had a different - and much bigger – team” he said. “They’ve struggled all season, so on paper we should win the game. But we still have to go out there and play well. This kind of game needs a different kind of discipline.

“Marlon Jules seems to be playing well for them, and Dan Sandell and Adam Williams are putting up the points for them. They just lack height, so hopefully we can do a good job inside and win the game that way.”

Panthers won 85-76 when they visited Sheffield in November, but Sharks have since beaten them 98-66 in the return and also won both BBL Trophy games between the sides.

Birmingham lost heavily against Guildford Heat and Marshall MK Lions over last weekend, but coach Nigel Lloyd was still encouraged by his players’ performance, “In the first half we played some really good basketball. They’ll probably say they played down to our level, but we were up on their starting squad, and Paul had to sub them out and bring five different guys in. We just didn’t have the bodies to compete with them for the whole game, but they had to come out and compete in the third to win the game. To play that well with the seven guys I had was really pleasing.

“We did okay against Lions, they beat us comprehensively in the end, partly because we were tired, and because they’re a bigger, tougher team. I’m not disappointed with how we did over the weekend, it certainly could have been worse.”

Lloyd knows his team have another tough test on Saturday, “They are probably the hottest team in the country at the moment. They are putting a good run together, and it’s going to be a hard game for us. At least when we played Guildford and Milton Keynes last week they only pressed us some of the time, but Sheffield’s game is all about extending their defence. That’s how they are winning games, and how we handle that pressure will be key, as will how they shoot the ball. When they’re shooing well they can match up with anyone.”

The Jelson Homes DMU Leicester Riders and PAWS London Capital go head-to-head at the John Sandford Centre on Saturday to decide the season series between the two teams who are battling for tenth place in the BBL Championship.

Both sides have won on their opponents’ court this season, with Riders returning from the Capital City Academy with a 92-81 victory in December. Martin Ford’s team led 51-50 going into the final period, and broke the game open with a 12-3 burst to take the score out to 84-69.  London trimmed the deficit to ten points at 79-89 inside the last minute, but could get no closer as the visitors ran out eventual victors.  Terrence Woodyard and Roderick Wellington led all scorers in the game netting 22 points apiece for the Riders.

The return saw Capital defy foul trouble to win 67-58. Once again the visitors went into the final break with a 51-50 lead, before Darren Mills gave the Riders the lead with the first four points of the fourth quarter, before the visitors took control.  Sam Bradley and Tayo Ogendengbe scored baskets before Santa Ataha hit back-to-back three-pointers for a 54-61 lead.  The Capital then managed to close out the last two minutes with foul shots.

Bradley led all scorers with 18, whilst Ataha added 14.  Chad McKnight led the resistance with 14 points.

Capital continued their good late-season form with a home win against Everton Tigers on Saturday, and coach Steve Bucknall is pleased with the way they are playing, “I feel like the guys are getting more confident towards the end of the season. They’re getting more comfortable with the level of competition, they are all contributing and working hard. That’s all you can ask from them. I want us to keep winning, and the players know that. It doesn’t matter where you are in the table, you should always want to win and improve, or there’s no point in going out there.”

Bucknall is looking forward to the trip to Leicester, the club at which he spent the last days of his illustrious playing career, “It will be an interesting game, neither of us can reach the play-offs, but I’m sure they’ll want to win as they have had a tough time since Christmas.

“Steve Vear’s made a difference since he came in. We tried to sign him, and our guys know what he can do. Roderick Wellington’s been effective against us, probably because he knows what our guys can do too. He hurt us a lot when we played them at home, and they’ve also added Carlos White as well as still having Chad McKnight who’s pretty useful.

“If we let them get going, they’ll beat us. So the key is to stop that happening, and play some defence.”

The Worcester Wolves will be aiming to complete a clean sweep of victories against the BiG Storage Cheshire Jets when the sides meet in the Midlands on Saturday.

The meeting at the Northgate Arena in December saw Wolves record their first ever away win in the BBL Championship with a 115-84 victory. Wolves were on top form throughout their roster but had a massive game from James Life to thank for the ease of the win. Life scored 47-points, with 44 of them coming in the final three periods and 20 in the fourth quarter alone.

Jets traveled to Worcester in February, and a tight game saw them lose 111-101. Jets led 71-59 at half-time, but there was a huge nineteen-point swing in the third period as, by contrast to what had gone before, the Wolves restricted the Jets to just 10 points in the quarter.  Life found Paez on the end of an 'alley-oop' once more in the fourth quarter and after 6:00 Skouson Harker sank a pair of free-throws that saw the Wolves through the one hundred mark at 101-95.  In the ensuing two minutes, Life (Wolves) and Gianni Costantiello (Jets) fouled out, and heading into the last minute the Wolves had a strong 106-99 lead.  Harker fouled out also, but that didn't stop the Wolves stretching the lead to double-digits and seeing out the game.

While Jets can no longer reach the play-offs, Wolves coach Skouson Harker still expects a tough game, “They are playing for pride, and as a club they have some really positive things to look forward to in the future. They won’t lie down, and they will want to keep the momentum going. The guys who are there will want to prove that they are good enough to get back into the BBL next year, so they’ll leave it all on the table. If we can get everyone healthy, it should be a high-scoring, exciting game.”

Jets go into the game on the back of an 89-81 loss against Scottish Rocks, and coach Paul Smith admits that he was disappointed with the result, “We were a bit up and down. It’s the same old story, and I find myself saying the same things. We did well, but we just didn’t have enough in the fourth quarter after being in it throughout the game.”

One piece of good news for Smith was that James Hamilton made his comeback from injury in the game, “We got about 20 minutes from James, he’s not 100 percent, but just having him on the floor is a big help.”

Smith knows what his team need to do to beat the Wolves, “We played them a few weeks ago, and it was a high scoring game, so we need to stop their fast break. They really do focus on pushing the ball. James Life and Anthony Paez are the big scorers, but Chuck Evans is a really smart guard. He’s one of the few players in the BBL capable of getting triple-doubles.”

The BiG Storage Cheshire Jets can seal a season sweep against Team Birmingham Panthers when the sides meet at Northgate Arena on Sunday.

The first meeting of the campaign saw Jets return from the midlands with an 89-76 victory. Jets broke the game open in the final period with a 9-0 run which took the score out to 70-82. From there the Panthers worked hard but couldn’t close the gap.

Jayson Obazuaye led all scorers with 30-points while Adam Williams’ 24 paced the Panthers line-up.

Cheshire’s second trip saw them run out 117-79 winners. A tight opening quarter burst to life with a 13-4 close to the period by Jets, which handed them a 17-28 advantage. They stretched that out to 39-53 at half time before totally assuming control in the third with a 15-9 burst to lead 59-75. The match was put beyond doubt at the start of the final stanza with a 23-3 burst by the visitors to give them an unassailable 62-98 advantage. Six Jets players scored in double figures with Obazuaye’s 22 being the highest.

Despite being bottom of the table, Jets coach Paul Smith has praise for the Panthers, “They’ve struggled this year to keep the team together due to problems off the floor, but they’ve never quit, and I’ve got a lot of respect for how Nigel [Lloyd] has kept them playing hard.

“It took us three quarters to break them down last time we played them, and I’m sure they’ll play just as hard this time. They obviously miss Rob Paternostro and Lataryl Williams, but Adam Williams is a great role model for the kids. He works hard and makes the most of what he’s got. He’s born just down the road from Chester in North Wales, and always plays well against us.”

Panthers coach Nigel Lloyd knows his team face another tough game, and especially as they square-off against former Birmingham guard Trey Moore, “We’re up against two of the best guards in the country in Jayson Obazuaye and Trey Moore. They shoot the ball well, and it’s tough coming off a game against Sheffield.

“It will be a difficult weekend, but that’s why we play the game. Our guys are still looking forward to every game. There’s only four left, and then we’re done for the year. They’re enjoying every game, and they know they are getting more minutes than they would on other teams and this is their chance to get that experience.”

The Guildford Heat will look for their first ever victory against Everton Tigers when the sides meet at The Spectrum on Sunday.

Paul James’ team traveled to Merseyside in October and Tigers scored their first ever BBL win with a 91-80 success. The Tigers won the game behind 25 points from GB international centre Chris Haslam and led for much of the first half before a strong fourth period gave them the victory. Tony Robertson added 20 points, with former All-Star Calvin Davis making 17.  Danny Gilbert (17) and Tony Dorsey (16) led the visitors.

Tigers also won the second meeting at Greenbank Academy, 95-90. Richard Midgley led the Tigers’ scoring with 25 points, but it was Tony Dorsey who led all scorers in the game with 26.

James is hoping for revenge after those two losses, “We’ve already lost the head-to-head against them, and they’ve played really well against us. We’re just trying to get back on track after losing on Sunday. We played exceptionally well against Newcastle, and we want to end our home season on a high note.

“Richard Midgley hurt us last time, and Tony Robertson has had some good games against us. We’ve struggled against their guards defensively, which surprises me. Some of our poorest games have been against them, and we need to put that right as we could be playing them in the play-offs. We wouldn’t want to go into a play-off series against a side who had beaten us three times.”

With his side having beaten Heat twice already this season, Everton coach Henry Mooney is looking forward to the trip to Surrey, “I think they’ll get second place, so we could be going there again in the play-off. We’ve beaten them twice, and hopefully we can do it again, then we certainly won’t mind going there again!

“They haven’t played well against our zone, and they really haven’t shot the ball well. We’ll go with a similar game-plan, but we’ll make changes if necessary. We match up well against them, our big guys want to play on the perimeter and that works well against Heat.

“We’d hoped to get Mohammed Niang fit by this stage, as he’d really help us inside, but time’s running out on that one.

“EJ Harrison had a big game in the Trophy final, but Tony Dorsey is obviously their key player. He plays tough in every game, and he’ll always get his points. Dan Gilbert is really dangerous when he shoots well, they’re a good team but they’ve been a bit up and down at times this season. They obviously miss Brian Dux, and I am surprised they didn’t replace him with an out-and-out point guard.”

Both of those Raiders victories have come in close games in the West Country. An 11-6 run in the closing minutes saw Plymouth win 74-69 when the teams met in October. Drew Lasker scored a game-high 16-points for Plymouth with Maurice Hampton’s 15 pacing the Rocks.

Raiders held off the Rocks in the second game between the teams, winning 83-79.

Plymouth’s lead peaked at 74-56 before the Rocks hit back.  They scored the next five points and between the eighth and ninth minutes of the fourth stanza they scored 10 consecutive points, including six for Sterling Davis, to close the gap to 78-71.  The Raiders were continually being sent to the line and it nearly cost them as they shot just 5/12 down the stretch.  Davis added a three-pointer and Bilal Clarance matched that as the Rocks got close at the end, but the Raiders held on.

Rocks go into the game on the back of an 89-81 victory at the BiG Storage Cheshire Jets, and player-coach Davis was pleased with their performance, “We played pretty well, we knew it wouldn’t be easy there as it’s not an easy place to play. But we rode the waves of the game, it was up and down, and we were able to pull out the win.”

While Rocks still have an outside chance of clinching fourth spot in the league, and home court advantage in the play-offs, Davis is more concerned with his team going into the post-season in good form than whether they get a top four finish, “Right now I’m not concerned with where we finish. I just want us to be ready for the next game, whoever we face, and whatever happens in the rest of the league, we want to be ready for the players. Plymouth have a solid team, and all of their starting five can step up and beat you. We need to defend in all positions as we know they have lots of weapons – it could be their guards who beat you or their big men.”

Visiting coach Gary Stronach is expecting a difficult trip to Glasgow, “We’ve beaten them twice at the Pavilions and played well, but they have some good players and they are still chasing fourth place and home court in the play-offs. But all the teams are looking to play good basketball on their way into the play-offs now.

“They’re well drilled, and Rob Yanders leads them well from the point guard position. From one through to five they are as tough as hell, and in Wohlers they have some quality coming off the bench. They’re a well rounded team and Sterling [Davis] will want them to go into play-offs playing some good basketball.”

“We’re chasing our highest ever league position, whether it’s second or third, or even fourth as Milton Keynes can still catch us. It’s part of a really tough away trip for us. We’re going to travel over 1,000 miles and play two games in three days. Not many sports in this country ask their players to do that. They might do it in the NBA, but they have their own planes, we’re on a coach stopping off in Carlisle in between. We’re not complaining, we’ll be ready. We’ve had a great season and we want to be ready to finish the season strongly, and get ready for the play-offs.”