On a weekend the sport’s future was thrown into disarray, Sheffield Sharks honoured their past.

The appearance of a host of the club’s former captains and players for a ‘Heritage game’ to celebrate Sheffield’s history momentarily doused the flames of the fires that are currently raging in the British game.

Yuri Matischen and Sarah Backovic who took the Sharks into the professional era in 1994 and remain key components behind the scenes now, have seen enough governing bodies and league start-ups come and go in their time to believe the current malaise – which saw the British Basketball Federation (BBF) go into liquidation on Friday night – can be overcome.

As club legends like Todd Cauthorn and Peter Scantlebury MBE were paraded at half-time at the Canon Medical Arena – the club’s own arena, perfectly proportionate for basketball in this country and a monument to their history – the current Sharks vintage were already 53-36 up on Manchester Basketball and on course for a fourth straight victory in Super League Basketball.

William Lee had 16 points and dominated the boards at both ends of the court as Sheffield Sharks beat Manchester in SLB (Picture: Adam Bates)

placeholder image — William Lee had 16 points and dominated the boards at both ends of the court as Sheffield Sharks beat Manchester in SLB (Picture: Adam Bates)

SLB has withstood the attempts by the BBF in recent months to undermine it by blocking import players and restricting the use of referees, but even with the spectre of the GBB League still looming in the background and refusing to go away, the league ploughs on serving up professional basketball on the court and the sport in the community.

Sharks are still ploughing ahead despite only having eight players take to the court again, yet this over-worked core are unbeaten in that four-game span in the absence of Prentiss Nixon, Reyad West and Mervin James.

A fourth-quarter rally helped them soar above the Eagles in Newcastle on Friday night and that appeared to have taken the zip out of them in the first quarter against Manchester on Sunday when only the offensive rebounding of William Lee and three-point shooting of Rodney Glasgow Jr kept them ahead.

At 30-28 they were starting to wobble when Sharks suddenly accelerated with a 15-0 run, the highlights an excellent offensive board from Mike Ochereobia, a fast break from Rodney Chatman III to Dirk Williams and then two three-balls from WIlliams – one of those rare commodities who can be classed as a Sharks favourite of the past and present.

Jordan Ratinho scores on a lay-up for Sheffield Sharks against Manchester (Picture: Adam Bates)

At one stage, Sharks were an impressive 10 of 13 from three-point range, Chatman and Williams the usual suspects in that regard but Lee also showing his prowess from behind the arc.

Two more triples from Chatman were nicely timed, just as Manchester had got to within eight points and were wondering if the Sharks were running out of gas.

They weren’t. Chatman finished with 35 points and took MVP honours, Williams added 20 and Lee – instrumental at both ends – had 16.

Atiba Lyons, just the fourth head coach in Sharks history, said: “It was a tough weekend for us, but we did a great job. And on a night when we honour our past like we did is testament to the club. It shows the club is doing something right.”