Basketball: Bucks upset Tigers: Derby win play-off on the buzzer

THE underdogs had their day in the Budweiser play-offs at the weekend, as the road to Wembley Arena

developed a few bumps for the League champions, Thames Valley Tigers, and the Guildford Kings.

Tim Lascelles' three-pointer on the buzzer gave Derby Bucks an

83-81 victory - and the lead for the first time - over the Tigers in the opening game of their best-of-three quarter-final series. Victory in

either of the remaining games, both scheduled for Tigers' home court at Bracknell, will take eighth-placed Derby to the finals at Wembley on 30 April and 1 May.

London Towers, beaten 61-60 at home by Guildford on Thursday, squared the series with a 79-77 win at Guildford Spectrum on Saturday. Andrew Bailey's game-winning drive to the hoop takes the series to a decisive third game at the Spectrum on Saturday.

Thirty-three points from Alan Cunningham led Worthing Bears to a 96-83 win at Leicester City Riders in the first game of their series, while third-placed Manchester Giants won 93-76 at Birmingham on Friday. Worthing and Manchester have the comfort of two home games to secure the victory which guarantees their Wembley place.

Thames Valley and Guildford, though, have no room for error if they are to complete a line-up of the League's top four clubs at Wembley. Tigers face Derby on Wednesday and the Thames Valley coach, Mick Bett, says: 'That's the big game. If we come through that, I'm confident we'll complete the job on Saturday.'

Derby's first win over Thames Valley this season came two weeks after they sacked their coach, Terry Manghum. .