Basketball: Sharks extend lead

Sheffield Sharks defeated bottom club Leicester Riders 102-87 last night to open an eight-point lead over second-placed Brighton Bears in the BBL Championship.

However, the Bears have five games in hand and will be confident of extending Riders' run of defeats to 20 when they play them at Loughborough University on Sunday.

Sharks pulled clear with runs of 17-9 and 15-9 in the second quarter to lead 59-39 at half-time. Jerry Williams led Sheffield's scorers with 20 points.

Tony Garbelotto, coach to lowly Birmingham Bullets, has axed three players in an attempt to drag his club into contention for the post-season play-off quarter-finals.

Bullets are 10th after winning only four of their first 19 games, and with 21 games left to play Garbelotto has released the American pait Kyle Rolston and Michael Jackson along with the back-up guard Mike Redd. Garbelotto said: "This is probably the biggest risk in the BBL, but if the changes come off they will be great."