# 2008–09 British Basketball League season

The 2008–09 BBL season was the 22nd campaign in the history of the British Basketball League (BBL), which commenced on 14 September 2008 with the Cup Winners' Cup. The regular season began a week later with 12 teams competing, though a line-up change saw the Birmingham Panthers withdraw and fold during close season and the inclusion of Worthing Thunder from the English Basketball League.
Newcastle Eagles continued their dominance of Britain's basketball scene, scooping up the League title, the Play-off crown and the BBL Trophy, beating rivals Guildford Heat 71-83 at the Guildford Spectrum. After a promising rookie season for Everton Tigers in 2007–08, the Merseyside team came of age in their sophomore year, finishing as runners-up in the League and the play-offs whilst entering the record books for their 103-49 win in the BBL Cup Final against Plymouth Raiders, the biggest winning margin (54 points) in BBL history and lowest ever score conceded in a Final.
This season also saw the return of the BBL All-Star game, which was played as a warm-up to the play-off Grand Final. Two select-teams – the British All-Stars and the Rest of the World All-Stars – were pitted together using a selection of players from across the League, with the Rest of the World team narrowly winning 117-124.

## Teams

| Team | City/Area | Arena | Capacity | Last season |
| Cheshire Jets | Chester | Northgate Arena | 1,000 | 11th |
| Everton Tigers | Liverpool | Echo Arena & Greenbank Sports Academy | 7,513 600 | 7th |
| Guildford Heat | Guildford | Guildford Spectrum | 1,100 | 2nd |
| Leicester Riders | Leicester | John Sandford Centre | 800 | 10th |
| London Capital | London | Capital City Academy | 300 | 9th |
| Milton Keynes Lions | Milton Keynes | Bletchley Centre | 800 | 4th |
| Newcastle Eagles | Newcastle upon Tyne | Metro Radio Arena | 6,500 | 1st |
| Plymouth Raiders | Plymouth | Plymouth Pavilions | 1,480 | 3rd |
| Scottish Rocks | Glasgow | Kelvin Hall | 1,200 | 5th |
| Sheffield Sharks | Sheffield | English Institute of Sport | 1,200 | 6th |
| Worcester Wolves | Worcester | University of Worcester | 600 | 8th |
| Worthing Thunder | Worthing | Worthing Leisure Centre | 1,000 | New |

## Notable occurrences

* Following a disastrous rookie campaign and lack of investment the Birmingham Panthers franchise folded during the close season and would not return for the 2008–09 season.
* The gap vacated by Panthers was subsequently occupied by Worthing Thunder who stepped up from the English Basketball League Division 1. Though their application was accepted before the Panthers folded, Worthing were one of two South-coast franchises bidding for a place in the BBL, with an unsuccessful bid coming from Brighton Cougars.
* The second edition of the Cup Winners' Cup saw Guildford Heat sweep away the honours yet again with a closely fought two-game series against last season's BBL Cup winners Milton Keynes Lions. Heat ran out victors with a 159-149 aggregate score.

## BBL Championship (Tier 1)
### Final standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | % | Pts |
| 1 | Newcastle Eagles | 33 | 28 | 5 | 0.848 | 56 |
| 2 | Everton Tigers | 33 | 24 | 9 | 0.727 | 48 |
| 3 | Leicester Riders | 33 | 21 | 12 | 0.636 | 42 |
| 4 | Guildford Heat | 33 | 21 | 12 | 0.636 | 42 |
| 5 | Plymouth Raiders | 33 | 20 | 13 | 0.606 | 40 |
| 6 | Sheffield Sharks | 33 | 16 | 17 | 0.485 | 32 |
| 7 | Scottish Rocks | 33 | 16 | 17 | 0.485 | 32 |
| 8 | Cheshire Jets | 33 | 15 | 18 | 0.454 | 30 |
| 9 | Milton Keynes Lions | 33 | 14 | 19 | 0.424 | 28 |
| 10 | Worcester Wolves | 33 | 11 | 22 | 0.333 | 22 |
| 11 | Worthing Thunder | 33 | 10 | 23 | 0.303 | 20 |
| 12 | London Capital | 33 | 2 | 31 | 0.060 | 4 |
* = League winners
* = Qualified for the play-offs

### Playoffs

| Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final | Final |
| 1 | Newcastle Eagles | 88 | | | | | | |
| 8 | Cheshire Jets | 83 | | | | | | |
| 8 | Cheshire Jets | 83 | 1 | Newcastle Eagles | 93 | | | |
| | | | 5 | Plymouth Raiders | 71 | | | |
| 4 | Guildford Heat | 81 | 5 | Plymouth Raiders | 71 | | | |
| 5 | Plymouth Raiders | 89 | | | | | | |
| 5 | Plymouth Raiders | 89 | | | | 1 | Newcastle Eagles | 87 |
| | | | | | | 2 | Everton Tigers | 84 |
| 2 | Everton Tigers | 84 | | | | | | | 2 | Everton Tigers | 84 |
| 7 | Scottish Rocks | 64 | | | | | | |
| 7 | Scottish Rocks | 64 | 2 | Everton Tigers | 81 | | | |
| | | | 3 | Leicester Riders | 65 | | | |
| 3 | Leicester Riders | 72 | 3 | Leicester Riders | 65 | | | |
| 6 | Sheffield Sharks | 71 | | | | | | |

#### Quarter-finals

* 22 April 2009
| Leicester Riders | 72–71 | Sheffield Sharks |
* John Sandford Centre, Leicester
* 24 April 2009
| Newcastle Eagles | 88–83 | Cheshire Jets |
* Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle upon Tyne
* 24 April 2009
| Everton Tigers | 84–64 | Scottish Rocks |
* Greenbank Sports Academy, Liverpool
* 26 April 2009
| Guildford Heat | 81–89 | Plymouth Raiders |
* Guildford Spectrum, Guildford

#### Semi-finals

* 2 May 2009
| Newcastle Eagles | 93–71 | Plymouth Raiders |
* National Indoor Arena, Birmingham
* 2 May 2009
| Everton Tigers | 81–65 | Leicester Riders |
* National Indoor Arena, Birmingham

#### Final

* 3 May 2009 3.30pm GMT
* Report
| Newcastle Eagles | 87–84 | Everton Tigers |
| Scoring by quarter: 36-17, 15-23, 19-12, 17-32 |||
| Pts: Trey Moore 22, Reggie Jackson 19, Darius Defoe 18, Charles Smith 8, Fab Flournoy 7, Tafari Toney 7, Andrew Bridge 6 | | Pts: Richard Midgley 36, Olu Babalola 25, Marcus Bailey 8, Josh Gross 6, Tony Dorsey 5, Chris Haslam 2, James Jones 2 |
* National Indoor Arena, Birmingham

## Cup Winners' Cup

The Cup Winners' Cup was contested between the winners of the BBL Cup and BBL Trophy from the previous season. Guildford were winners of the Trophy and Milton Keynes were winners of the Cup. The tournament was played over two-legs – one at each home arena – and the winner decided by a total aggregate score from both games.

### First leg

* 14 September 2008 3.00pm GMT
* Report
| Guildford Heat | 91–89 | Milton Keynes Lions |
| Scoring by quarter: 29-27, 24-24, 16-17, 22-21 |||
| Pts: Yorick Williams, 23 | | Pts: Brad Jones, 20 |
* Guildford Spectrum, Guildford

### Second leg

* 19 September 2008 7.30pm GMT
* Report
| Milton Keynes Lions | 60–68 | Guildford Heat |
| Scoring by quarter: 9-18, 22-20, 11-13, 18-17 |||
| Pts: Robert Youngblood, 14 Rebs: Robert Youngblood, 10 | | Pts: Keonta Howell, 18 Rebs: Keonta Howell, 11 |
* Bletchley Centre, Milton Keynes

## EBL National League Division 1 (Tier 2)
### Final standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | % | Pts |
| 1 | Reading Rockets | 18 | 18 | 0 | 1.000 | 36 |
| 2 | Manchester Magic | 18 | 15 | 3 | 0.833 | 30 |
| 3 | London Leopards | 18 | 12 | 6 | 0.667 | 24 |
| 4 | City of Sheffield Arrows | 18 | 10 | 8 | 0.556 | 20 |
| 5 | Bristol Academy Flyers | 18 | 9 | 9 | 0.500 | 18 |
| 6 | Coventry Crusaders | 18 | 8 | 10 | 0.444 | 16 |
| 7 | Tees Valley Mohawks | 18 | 8 | 10 | 0.444 | 16 |
| 8 | Derby Trailblazers | 18 | 5 | 13 | 0.278 | 10 |
| 9 | Cardiff Celts | 18 | 3 | 15 | 0.167 | 6 |
| 10 | Taunton Tigers | 18 | 2 | 16 | 0.111 | 4 |
* = League winners
* = Qualified for the play-offs

## EBL National League Division 2 (Tier 3)
### Final standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | % | Pts |
| 1 | Leeds Carnegie | 22 | 18 | 4 | 0.818 | 36 |
| 2 | London Mets | 22 | 17 | 5 | 0.773 | 34 |
| 3 | Leicester Warriors | 22 | 15 | 7 | 0.682 | 30 |
| 4 | Birmingham A's | 22 | 14 | 8 | 0.636 | 28 |
| 5 | Kent Crusaders | 22 | 13 | 9 | 0.591 | 26 |
| 6 | Team Northumbria | 22 | 12 | 10 | 0.545 | 24 |
| 7 | Plymouth Raiders II | 22 | 10 | 12 | 0.455 | 20 |
| 8 | Newi Nets | 22 | 10 | 12 | 0.455 | 20 |
| 9 | Colchester Hornets | 22 | 8 | 14 | 0.364 | 16 |
| 10 | Plymouth Marjon Cannons | 22 | 8 | 14 | 0.364 | 16 |
| 11 | Northampton Neptunes | 22 | 5 | 17 | 0.227 | 10 |
| 12 | University of Birmingham | 22 | 2 | 20 | 0.091 | 4 |
* = League winners
* = Qualified for the play-offs

## BBL Cup

Of the 12 competing teams in this season's BBL Cup, eight entered into the First Round while the top-four ranked teams from last season's Championship – Guildford Heat, Milton Keynes Lions, Newcastle Eagles and Plymouth Raiders – received byes into the quarter-finals, where they would also receive home-court advantage.

### First round

* 18 October 2008
| Leicester Riders | 99–75 | Worthing Thunder |
* John Sandford Centre, Leicester
* 20 October 2008
| Worcester Wolves | 80–89 | Sheffield Sharks |
* University of Worcester, Worcester
* 20 October 2008
| Scottish Rocks | 69–88 | Everton Tigers |
* Kelvin Hall, Glasgow
* 20 October 2008
| Cheshire Jets | 88–73 | London Capital |
* Northgate Arena, Cheshire

### Quarter-finals

* 26 October 2008
| Plymouth Raiders | 101–76 | Leicester Riders |
* Plymouth Pavilions, Plymouth
* 29 October 2008
| Guildford Heat | 78–74 | Sheffield Sharks |
* Guildford Spectrum, Guildford
* 31 October 2008
| Newcastle Eagles | 112–92 | Cheshire Jets |
* Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle upon Tyne
* 2 November 2008
| Milton Keynes Lions | 75–97 | Everton Tigers |
* Bletchley Centre, Milton Keynes

### Semi-finals 1st leg

* 23 November 2008
| Guildford Heat | 73–88 | Plymouth Raiders |
* Guildford Spectrum, Guildford
* 29 November 2008
| Newcastle Eagles | 112–105 | Everton Tigers |
* Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle upon Tyne

### Semi-finals 2nd leg

* 26 November 2008
| Plymouth Raiders | 74–69 | Guildford Heat |
* Plymouth Pavilions, Plymouth
* 5 December 2008
| Everton Tigers | 97–86 | Newcastle Eagles |
* Greenbank Sports Academy, Liverpool

### Final

* 18 January 2009 3.30pm GMT
* Report
| Plymouth Raiders | 49–103 | Everton Tigers |
| Scoring by quarter: 11-20, 11-30, 6-22, 21-31 |||
| Pts: Gaylon Moore 19, Andrew Lasker 9, Allister Gall 8, Kwbana Beckles 5, Terrence Durham 4, James Noel 4 | | Pts: Andre Smith 26, Marcus Bailey 26, Richard Midgley 16, James Jones 11, Olu Babalola 11, Delm Herriman 7 |
* National Indoor Arena, Birmingham

## BBL Trophy

The First Round of the BBL Trophy uses its usually round-robin format with the 12 competing teams divided into four regionalised groups with the winner of each group then advancing to a two-legged Semi-final encounter and progress to the Final being determined by a total aggregate score.

### Group stage

| Team | Pts | Pld | W | L | Percent |
| 1.Newcastle Eagles | 6 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0.750 |
| 2.Sheffield Sharks | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0.500 |
| 3.Scottish Rocks | 2 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0.250 |
| Team | Pts | Pld | W | L | Percent |
| 1.Guildford Heat | 8 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 1.000 |
| 2.Milton Keynes Lions | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0.500 |
| 3.London Capital | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0.000 |
| Team | Pts | Pld | W | L | Percent |
| 1.Everton Tigers | 8 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 1.000 |
| 2.Cheshire Jets | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0.500 |
| 3.Leicester Riders | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0.000 |
| Team | Pts | Pld | W | L | Percent |
| 1.Plymouth Raiders | 6 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0.750 |
| 2.Worcester Wolves | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0.500 |
| 3.Worthing Thunder | 2 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0.250 |

### Semi-finals 1st leg

* 14 February 2009
| Plymouth Raiders | 76–97 | Guildford Heat |
* Plymouth Pavilions, Plymouth
* 17 February 2009
| Everton Tigers | 82–88 | Newcastle Eagles |
* Greenbank Sports Academy, Liverpool

### Semi-finals 2nd leg

* 18 February 2009
| Guildford Heat | 90–85 | Plymouth Raiders |
* Guildford Spectrum, Guildford
* 20 February 2009
| Newcastle Eagles | 88–77 | Everton Tigers |
* Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle upon Tyne

### Final

* 15 March 2009 3.15pm GMT
* Report
| Guildford Heat | 71–83 | Newcastle Eagles |
| Scoring by quarter: 21-17, 21-22, 12-23, 17-21 |||
| Pts: Keonta Howell 30, Michael Martin 12, Kabir Abu 9 | | Pts: Trey Moore (MVP) 28, Andrew Bridge 17, Reggie Jackson 13, Darius Defoe 11, Tafari Toney 10 |
* Guildford Spectrum, Guildford

## All-Star Game

* 5 May 2009 1.30pm GMT
| Great Britain All-Stars | 117–124 | Rest of the World All-Stars |
| Scoring by quarter: 33-33, 22-27, 34-40, 28-24 |||
| Pts: Chris Sanders, 30 Rebs: Chris Sanders, 9 Asts: Anthony Martin, 7 | | Pts: Andrew Lasker, 22 Rebs: Frank Phiffer, 9 Asts: Ryan Patton, 4 |
* National Indoor Arena, Birmingham
Great Britain All-Stars :
| Num. | Player | Team |
| Starters |||
| 5 | Yorick Williams | Milton Keynes Lions |
| 12 | Anthony Martin | Plymouth Raiders |
| 15 | Barry Lamble | Leicester Riders |
| 20 | Gaylon Moore | Plymouth Raiders |
| 22 | Mike Martin | Guildford Heat |
| Reserves |||
| 4 | Daniel Hildreth | Worthing Thunder |
| 8 | Darren Mills | London Capital |
| 9 | Steven Gayle | Cheshire Jets |
| 10 | Daniel Sandell | Guildford Heat |
| 11 | Dru Spinks | Milton Keynes Lions |
| 14 | Chris Sanders | Sheffield Sharks |
| 21 | Ibrahim Gariba | London Capital |
Rest of the World All-Stars :
| Num. | Player | Team |
| Starters |||
| 4 | Ryan Patton | Worthing Thunder |
| 10 | Duane James | Leicester Riders |
| 11 | Andrew Lasker | Plymouth Raiders |
| 21 | Harry Disy | Worcester Wolves |
| 23 | Matt Gorman | Sheffield Sharks |
| Reserves |||
| 5 | Bradd Wierzbicki | Leicester Riders |
| 7 | Keonta Howell | Guildford Heat |
| 8 | Janis Ivanokskis | Worthing Thunder |
| 12 | Vidmantas Uzkuraitis | Worcester Wolves |
| 14 | DeAntoine Beasley | Plymouth Raiders |
| 20 | Chad McKnight | Guildford Heat |
| 22 | Frank Phiffer | Cheshire Jets |

## Seasonal awards

* Most Valuable Player: Trey Moore (Newcastle)
* Coach of the Year: Rob Paternostro (Leicester)
* All-Star First Team:
** Trey Moore (Newcastle)
** Andre Smith (Everton)
** Keonta Howell (Guildford)
** Robert Yanders (Scots Rocks)
** Tommy Swanson (Leicester)
* All-Star Second Team:
** Mike Martin (Guildford)
** Josh Gross (Everton)
** Andrew Lasker (Plymouth)
** Anthony Paez (Worcester)
** Chris Sanders (Sheffield)