Semi final lineup set

Next week will see the semi finals of both the Cup and Plate take place to decide the finalists in each competition.

 

The Plate semi finals are up first on Wednesday with an all Division 2 clash between Retford and Hillsborough being followed by an all Division 1 match-up pitting South Yorkshire Police against Rotherham Rams.

 

Retford and Hillsborough finished level in Division 2 with identical 7-7 records, with Retford taking the higher spot thanks to points difference in the two-match-ups between the teams. Each team won one game against the other, but Retford won by six (53-47), whereas Hillsborough only won by four (46-42).

 

Hillsborough reached this stage with a comfortable 70-41 victory over Horbury Hornets that included a 13-2 run in the second quarter and a further 12-0 run over the half-time break. Retford received a bye into the semi-finals after losing their Play In game to Tenacious D.

 

Rams turned around the form that had seen them lose their last 4 league games and be upset by Sheffield Suns in the Play In round to defeat Foulstone Flyers 64-53 in the Plate quarter finals. They had to come from behind after Flyers started the game with a 12-4 advantage, requiring a 15-2 run in the second quarter to put the game in the balance. They overcame 29 points from Kyle Styan to post a decisive 14-4 run in the last quarter and book their spot in the semi finals.

 

SYP defeated Storm 69-64 in the quarter finals to record just their second win of the season. The Police enjoyed a 9-0 spurt in the first quarter that provided all of their advantage (24-15) at the end of the period. They were unable to put Storm away over the middle quarters, with their lead fluctuating between 6 and 14 points until a 14-2 run for Storm made it a one point game. Kevin Jenkins scored all his team's points in an 8-2 burst to give SYP the win. They will have to overcome the formbook if they hope to make the final, having been beaten 74-50 and 70-57 by Rams in the league season.

 

On Thursday the Cup competition takes centre stage as Loxley meet Rotherham Hawks and G-Corp go up against Team Screen.

 

League champions Loxley held on for a narrow 92-86 over Tenacious D in the quarters despite their opponents scoring 13 straight points in the final period. They recorded two narrow victories over Rotherham Hawks in the league season (80-76 and 70-69) so the semi final promises to be a tense affair.

 

Hawks got to this stage with an 81-64 quarter final victory over Division 2 champions Worksop with Josh Thickett (26) and Nathan Suttle (21) doing the bulk of the scoring for the Division 1 team.

 

As the only team to defeat Loxley this season, G-Corp could be favoured to defeat Team Screen in the last semi final of the week, but Team Screen finished second in Division 1 after winning their last 5 games of the season. That run included a 66-36 hammering of their opponents next week (the game earlier in the season finished 57-51 to G-Corp) and they continued their good form with a 91-81 overtime victory over Foulstone in the Play In round and an 83-57 win against Sheffield Suns in the quarter final.

 

After G-Corp scraped past Storm 80-70 in the Play In round, they defeated Division 2 team MLS Sharks 82-63 in the quarter finals despite trailing 13-0 early on. Joseph Baugh scored 23 points as his team turned around that early disadvantage thanks in no small part to a 17-3 run in the third quarter.

 

The finals of both the Cup and Plate will take place on May 30 at EIS-Sheffield with the Plate final starting at 7pm and the Cup final following immediately after.

 

Wed	23-May-12	7:00pm	Plate SF	Retford Raiders	-	Hillsborough
Wed	23-May-12	8:30pm	Plate SF	South Yorkshire Police	-	Rotherham Rams
Thu	24-May-12	7:00pm	Cup SF	Loxley	-	Rotherham Hawks
Thu	24-May-12	8:30pm	Cup SF	G-Corp	-	Team Screen (Chesterfield)