Basketball: Sharks and Leeds earn home wins

The Sheffield Sharks last night romped to an emphatic 91-70 victory over Manchester Giants at the EIS, writes Charlie Wright.

As impressive as the performance was, it did come at a cost for the home side with injuries to Mike Cook and Colin Sing.

Points from TJRobinson and Jerrold Brooks set the tone for the Sharks, both players ended the night with the joint MVP award, the pair scored a combined 42 points between them.

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Any chance of a Giants comeback was dead by the end of the third with Sheffield leading 75-51.

Louis Sayers exploded for a season-high 20 points to inspire Leeds Force to a 91-72 victory against his former club Plymouth Raiders at Carnegie Sports Centre.

The guard swapped Plymouth for Leeds in the summer and appeared motivated to prove a point, connecting on five of eight attempts from three-point range, as Force recorded their biggest-ever BBL win.

This victory, which owed much to a 19-0 third-quarter surge to swing the game in their favour, halts a run of four straight defeats for the Yorkshire club.

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Leeds return to league action tomorrow with a trip to Cheshire Phoenix.

Sayers is enjoying a new lease of life with Force, but admits his new side must improve.

“I definitely think we have to do better – there have been some games that we should’ve been in a position to win and we weren’t so that’s been disappointing,” he said.

“We’re definitely past the phase of getting to know each other.

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“We are playing more as a unit now that we’re familiar with each others’ instincts.

“We have to be more consistent on the defensive end and get more stops, which (will) allow us to reap the benefits on the offensive end.”

The Sharks are back in action tomorrow when they attempt to reach the BBL Cup semi-finals as they travel to Leicester Riders.