Basketball: Riders are thrown off course by the Rocks

Edinburgh Rocks ousted the defending national champions Leicester Riders from fourth place in the BBL's Northern Conference, beating them 81-75 at Meadowbank last night.

Edinburgh Rocks ousted the defending national champions Leicester Riders from fourth place in the BBL's Northern Conference, beating them 81-75 at Meadowbank last night.

Riders led by 16 points in the second quarter but will be denied the chance of defending the title unless they can regain fourth place from the Rocks to reach the play-off quarter-finals.

Edinburgh regained the lead with a 22-2 run and then six consecutive points, including four free throws from Ted Berry, gave them a match-winning 79-70 lead.

Chester Jets moved closer to taking the Northern Conference title with Friday night's 103-100 win over Birmingham Bullets. But in the South, London Leopards' 89-87 win over Brighton Bears on Saturday and last night's 107-80 victory against Derby Storm means they join Brighton, Birmingham and London Towers in contention for the title.

Bullets' coach, Lance Randall, and Rob Paternostro were thrown out of the game at Ponds Forge against Sheffield Sharks last night on a combination of four technical fouls, which sent Iain McKinney to the line to score eight free throws for a 76-52 lead. Bullets fought back to trail 76-66 after a 14-0 run, but Nate Reinking responded with three three-pointers inside a minute and Sharks won 99-89.

* In the NBA, Allen Iverson scored 28 points as the in-form Philadelphia 76ers beat the Atlanta Hawks 112-91 for their third straight win. Philadelphia strolled to their sixth win in seven games. Dikembe Mutombo contributed 17 points and Eric Snow added 15 for the Sixers, who improved to 15-0 when reaching the century mark. Shareef Abdur-Rahim scored 26 points and Jason Terry chipped in 25 for the Hawks.