Basketball: Sharks extend their lead

Sheffield Sharks moved four points clear of Brighton Bears at the top of the BBL Championship with an 86-68 win at Ponds Forge over Leicester last night, inflicting a seventh consecutive defeat on the Riders.

The Sharks ninth win from 11 games was never in doubt after they led 27-10 at the end of the first quarter. Jerry Williams scored 22 points, Justin Phoenix and Lynard Stewart 16 each. Kenya Capers top-scored for Riders with 19, backed by 16 from Malcolm Leak and 14 from Antoine Sims.

If the Milton Keynes Lions coach, Nigel Lloyd, is on the end of a beating at the Telewest Arena tonight it will be a measure of how much the Newcastle Eagles player-coach, Fab Flournoy, learned under his tutelage.

Flournoy, in his rookie season as a coach, said: "I was at Birmingam Bullets with Nigel. I was one of the players Nigel took under his wing and I learnt a lot." Eagles have made a better start to the BBL Championship than Lions, where the 41-year-old Babadian has restricted himself to coaching after being a player-coach for the last two seasons.

Eagles have extended England international Ian Whyte's temporary contract for another month.