It took double overtime to separate Sheffield Sharks and Leicester Riders

It was a late-night thriller at the EIS yesterday as Sheffield Sharks and Leicester Riders fought out a 92-98 duel that needed double overtime to separate them.

There were many contenders for MVP: Chris Alexander with his customary 21 points; Mackey McKnight recorded only the second triple-double of the BBL season and the first by a Sharks player since 2009 with 14 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. But it went to captain Mike Tuck with 26 points, 11 rebounds and 3 assists.

Sharks need to regroup now to take on Worcester Wolves tomorrow in a winner-take-all semi-final for a BBL Trophy final place with both teams tied on 86-86 after the first leg away at Worcester.

Sheffield Sharks narrowly lose at home to Leicester Riders

Sheffield Sharks fought back threee times but eventually lost out 78-82 to Leicester Riders at the EIS, Sheffield tonight.  There was a good crowd in to see the hard-fought game - Leicester brought along their lucky mascot - GB High-Jumper Isobel Pooley at her first away game.

 Malcolm Riley gets some close attention from the Leicester defence

 Mike Tuck makes an easy lay-up

Coach Atiba Lyons directs from the side

 Jordan Davies brings the ball out of defence

 Zach Gachette slams home the runaway dunk

Leicester coach Rob Paternostro gets a technical for his passionate reading of the game

 Tony Wroblicky (hidden) fouls Shane Walker

Malcolm Riley gets caught by the trailing leg of Andy Thompson

GB High Jump star Isobel Pooley cheering on the Riders

MVP for the Sharks with 20 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal - Malcolm Riley.

Sheffield Sharks vs Leicester Riders - photos from the opening game of the season

A tough night for the Sheffield Sharks sees them lose out 54-85 against a Leicester Riders side looking for a degree of revenge after the BBL playoff loss in May.

 Shaheed Davis wins the tip

 Tony Wroblicky shoots a 2 for the first points of the new season

 Mike Tuck in a familiar position under the basket

 Tony Wroblicky muscles his way through the Riders close defence

 Shaheed Davis runs the play

 Zach Gachette shoots

 And then pops one in

 Cardell McFarland brings the ball down the court

 Colin Sing looks to open up the Riders defence

 And then looks to shoot

  Cardell McFarland brings the ball down the court

Cardell McFarland runs past the Riders defence

 Shaheed Davis runs in to the D

 Kyle Odister looks for a way past the Riders defence

 Marko Backovic shoots a 2

 Tony Wroblicky gets some close attention

 Cardell McFarland looking for a way past the Riders defence

 Shaheed Davis with a dunk near the end of the game

Eddy Brownell looks to clear the defence

It's Friday night at the EIS, Sheffield and at half-time the score is.....

21-34 to the Sheffield Sharks against Leicester Riders.  It's been a tight game so far, a few nervous mistakes on both sides as the teams reprise their BBL playoff final match in slightly smaller circumstances.

 Tony Wroblicky gets the first points of the season, 2-0

Shaheed Davis goes for a basket

It's the start of the 2016-17 British Basketball League and in an experiment I've decided to try editing and posting some photos during the game.

This has involved hooking up the laptop to my mobile phone as the wifi (which isn't great in the first place) tends to get swamped during a game.  The process then runs something like this.  Shoot to first XQD card in the camera.  During the game tag (protect) any potential usable shots.  As half-time approaches, copy the protected files to the second XQD card.  Then use this card (with a greatly reduced number of photos) to pass them to the laptop for processing and then loading up to social media etc.

It's BBL 2016-17 and the season opener for Sheffield Sharks against Leicester Riders

Just over 4 months ago, Sheffield Sharks unexpectedly(?) beat Leicester Riders in the BBL playoff final at the O2 in London.

Tomorrow a much-changed Sharks line-up faces the first game of the season against the same opponent whose coach, Rob Paternostro, will not have wasted a moment in telling his squad how important this game is.

Captain Mike Tuck scoring against Leicester Riders at the EIS, Sheffield, October 2015

In the intervening period the Sharks have said adieu to players such as Jerrold Brooks, TJ Robinson and John Barber and recruited some height - probably some of the tallest players to play together at the EIS.  It's also the last season for the Sharks at the EIS before they move into their new home on the old Don Valley site.

Sharks dug very deep in May, showing lots of team spirit.  Come along to the EIS tomorrow night to see how the new season starts off.

For more information and ticket details, go to: http://sharksbasketball.org/

Sheffield Sharks fail to upset unbeaten Leicester Riders

Sheffield Sharks couldn't quite keep last weekend's fine form going and remain winless in the British Basketball League as they go down 96-77 to as-yet-unbeaten Leicester Riders at the EIS, Sheffield.

In what had threatened to become a three-point shoot-out, Sharks took a 44-39 lead into the break after some fine work from the whole team to step up to the plate.

Leicester came back strong in the third quarter to lead 67-60 and they then kept it tight at the back to deny Sheffield a way back into the game.

 TJ Robinson at the tip-off.

 TJ Robinson finds some space to lay up

 Mike Tuck evades the Leicester defence for a finger-roll

 Mike Cook shoots in for two

 Mike Tuck blocked out

 Colin Sing jumps fastest and highest for two points

 TJ Robinson runs away for another two

 Patrick Horstmann finds a way past the Leicester defence

 Mike Cook lays up for two points

  TJ Robinson leaps for another two points

 Kyle Odister looks for a way through

 Mike Tuck has an easy shot having broken away near the end

 Jerrold Brooks finds space to make two

 Jerrold Brooks makes the And-1

Coach Rob Paternostro makes a point to the Leicester Riders