Atiba Lyons excited by wide open BBL Trophy line-up as Sheffield Sharks set date for Cheshire Phoenix semi-final

Sharks won 79-78 at reigning BBL champions Leicester Riders to seal a spot in the last four of the Trophy and lift the growing concern brought about by a run of nine defeats in 10 in the league.

That result came on the same night that big-spending league leaders London Lions were also dumped out of the competition, going down 52-50 at Caledonia Gladiators, the Glasgow-based team whose home arena the Emirates will host the BBL Trophy final on Sunday, March 26.

Then over the weekend, part-timers Derby Trailblazers of the National Basketball League Division One stunned BBL side Plymouth City Patriots to set up a semi-final against Caledonia.

Sharks have now confirmed they will head to holders Cheshire Phoenix on Sunday March 5, (tip-off 5.30pm) for their semi-final.

"That’s the BBL for you,” said Lyons, now in his 15th season as Sharks head coach but without a trophy since 2016.

"Leicester are historically one of the best teams, but the top four, five or six are all jockeying for that position behind London. Anyone of us could have beaten Leicester or London so going forward there’s no easy games.

“It’s not as easy a run (to the trophy) it looks, there’s still talented teams on both sides of the draw.

"There’s been Division One teams in the final in the past, but that’s how crazy British basketball is getting, there’s a lot of talent in that second tier.

"There’s been a lot of investment at the top of the game so the BBL is getting stronger and so is the second division – it’s great for British basketball.”

On their semi-final match-up, Lyons said: "Cheshire made some changes to their roster and they are better for it, we’ve made ours a little bit later so they’ve had more time together.

"We just have to keep working on gelling the group we have and being ready for what they bring; they’re a strong, fast team with high-speed guards that push the tempo so it’s a tough game when you play Cheshire.”

On the win at Leicester, in which Kipper Nichols scored 19 points and Bennett Koch added 18, Lyons said: "It was well-deserved, we played hard, we played well.

"Leicester made a late run, which is what they do and why they’re a Championship-calibre team and we did a good job to weather that storm.

"We came out and executed what we needed to do. Bennett played exceptional in the first quarter, and when that didn’t produce as much as we hoped, we changed things and different people stepped up, it was much more of a team effort after half-time.

“It was a great sign of where we could get to. Obviously we're not there yet but we can work towards it.

"We’ve had our ups and downs, we haven’t been able to put together a team to contend for a trophy so to get one over on Leicester and stay alive and in contention for a piece of silverware is very pleasing.”