Basketball: Sharks go full steam ahead

SHEFFIELD SHARKS, unbeaten leaders of the Budweiser League, took their winning streak to six games with an 87-78 victory at Birmingham Bullets last night and lead Manchester Giants and Derby Storm by two points.

Sheffield broke Birmingham's resistance with a 15-2 run to lead 47-32. Then, when Birmingham's Fabulous Flournoy fouled out and earned a technical with two minutes to go, the Sharks sank three free throws to seal the win. Terrell Myers led their scorers with 26 points.

Leicester City Riders, beaten 94-87 by Birmingham on Saturday, won their first game with a 96-78 victory at Chester Jets last night.

Gene Waldron, with a first-quarter lay-up, became the 13th player in League history to pass 5,000 career points and finished with 14, behind 27 from his team-mate Eric Moore.

The new franchise Edinburgh Rocks are still without a win after their first home game at Meadowbank last night resulted in an 83-70 defeat against Derby, even though the visitors lost guard Nate Reinking to a leg injury inside three minutes.

Manchester, who beat Derby 102-87 on Saturday, won 92-84 at Milton Keynes Lions last night, sealing victory from the free throw line after a 5-0 run gave them an 83-77 lead. Manchester's John White added 33 points to the 28 he scored against Derby.

Two long-range marksmen shot the Newcastle Eagles down on Saturday at Bracknell, where Bryan Balser scored six out of six three-pointers and Julio Politi five from six in Thames Valley Tigers" 117-94 victory.

Newcastle's problems began in the 12th minute when 6ft 10in Scott Wilkie was floored by Jason Siemon's power move and suffered a suspected broken arm.