Sheffield Sharks 97 (32,55,72) (Cook 32, Patton 27, Toney 23)
Guildford Heat 83 (21,41,57) (McKnight 24, Joseph 15, Langhorne 15)

The league-leading Sheffield Sharks beat the Guildford Heat for the first time since January 2008, by 97-83. It was their third straight win and keeps them atop the BBL Championship table.

The Sharks were led by 32 points from Mike Cook, 27 from Ryan Patton and 23 from Tafari Toney.

Patton hit three three-pointers in a first quarter that the hosts dominated; they soon led 20-8 on an Atiba Lyons basket, and were 32-21 up after the opening ten minutes. A 7-0 burst to open the second stretched that to 39-21, before Chad McKnight single-handedly brought the Heat back into the game. Their player/coach hit all ten points in a 10-3 push, and they narrowed the deficit to 47-36. The Sharks led 55-41 at the half.

McKnight scored a further six points in an early 10-4 run that got the Heat back to 59-51 early in the third period. However, Cook and Patton split the points as the Sharks went 8-2 with all of the points coming on fast breaks. Patton’s triple made it 72-57 at the end of three.

In the fourth quarter the Heat were back to within ten at 84-75. However, Perry Lawson’s basket made it 90-79, before a pair of blocks from Toney led to a Mike Cook score and a further block from the GB international was followed by another triple from Patton to make the score 94-79 and hand the Sharks the victory.