Record win v. Sharks, Sunday Nov. 10th
JETS 122 (28, 64, 94)
(Gregory 35, Thomas 34, Davis 22)
SHEFFIELD 99 (24, 44, 68)
(Williams 24, Reinking 19, Yanders 14)     STATS

Two Jets quotes from earlier this week:
"We have to take of business this weekend", forward Todd Cauthorn
"I feel sorry for Birmingham and Sheffield - we owe our fans this weekend", guard John Thomas

..And that was just about the long and short of it (sorry about that) as the Jets moved to the Cup Semi-final stage at Birmingham with a narrow 94-98 win on the 9th and then, tonight (10th), took over the #1 spot in Trophy Group N1 with an awesome performance against arch-rivals Sheffield Sharks. If teams are tied at the end of the group stage then points difference comes into play: Jets +27 v. Leicester and +23 last night could come in handy....
Remaining Group games: at home to Leicester, November 24th and away at Sheffield, December 14th.

After a close first quarter (in which, in what is always a needle game, saw Jets coach Robbie Peers and Sharks' veteran Peter Scantlebury pick up a technical foul apiece) the side were just four points apart at 28-24. The Jets stepped up in the second quarter and moved further ahead, ending the half with a 13-4 tear to lead by 20. The Jets' lead stretched to 26 as they ended the third with a 6-2 run and the fun continued as the Men in Black continued the exhibition into the final quarter, going some way to repaying their loyal fans for their support after a 1-2 home start to the season. Jets' Kenny Gregory and John Thomas led the Jets scorers, with 69 points between them - and 116 in total over the weekend.

Tonight's result was:
- the Jets' 16th consecutive win in the Trophy (winners 2001 & 2002), a new record (previous holders: Jets, with 15..)
- a record winning margin over the Sharks of 23 points, beating the previous high of 116 on 29/10/00
- a record high-score against the Sharks, beating the previous of 101 on 04/11/99

The Jets now face a punishing schedule in the League with three road games in five days: @Tigers 13/11 (league leaders), @Bears (#3 in league and undefeated in all competitions) 16/11 and @ Leopards 17/11.

As Jets coach Robbie Peers is fond of saying - along with things I can't repeat on a family site - "We move on..."

In tonight's other games: Scottish Rocks (led by ex-Jet Shawn Myers with 31 points) beat Birmingham 91-82 in the League and Towers (89-100 at Leopards in overtime after 82-82 in regulation), Brighton (91-73 v. Newcastle) and Thames Valley (87-11 at NBL side Teesside) moved through to join the title-defending Jets in the Semi-finals of the Cup.
11.11: Jets will play Tigers in the first Semi (4.00) on Saturday December 7th at Ponds Forge, Sheffield. Bears will play Towers at 6.00.

Trophy      Cup

Match report from Mike Devitt:

For the first time this season the rafters of the Northgate reverberated in the way they did on so many occasions last year. There were flashes of the old authority and imperiousness in the game against the Lions last week and the victory over Birmingham on the road on Saturday, narrow though it was in the end, gave cause for optimism. But not even the most optimistic and one-eyed Chester supporter [name withheld for legal reasons!] dared predict a 20+ margin and the highest score of the season against the team led by Shaggy from Scooby Doo look-alike Chris Finch aka the knitwear King and the Westfield Sharks, Sheffield - but that's what happened!

Come to think of it, there were a couple of omens that suggested that tonight was going to be a bit special. First of all, as the crowds poured into the Northgate, a strong rumour went round that Sheffield had no coach! first thoughts were that Chris Finch had been chosen to replace Mick McCarthy as Eire's new manager - as the FAI had said they were looking for a foreign national with no previous connection to the team - but in the end it transpired that all it was that the Sheffield players had come in their cars rather than the more usual corporate means of transport - no wonder there were no parking spaces left in the car park when I arrived! The second omen was the appearance of the first of this seasons sartorial [ look it up!] spectaculars from coach Robbie Peers. Long time readers of these pages will doubtless remember the op-art spectacular shirt worn by Robbie that ensured Chester's Trophy final in Birmingham last year: well tonight, in a clear tribute to the impending Turner Prize competition, our beloved play-caller sported a dazzling flame and charcoal number, entitled fittingly "Sunset over Sheffield" -and just like last year it worked!

Stats for matches leading up to this one suggested that Jets had suffered in matches they had lost from outside shooters taking advantage of the extra space afforded them by Chester's zone defence. Sheffield had obviously read the Mike Jones stats page in last week's programme as within the first thirty seconds Nate Reinking hoisted a looping shot from the arc with what was the first of numerous attempts from distance. Sharks fans should make the most of next couple of lines as they describe the only minute and a half that their team held the lead throughout the entire game. In the next attack, Justin Phoenix blocked Calvin Davis as he drove for the basket and Calvin obliged with one out of two, then John McCord took the ball at the end of a slick interchange between Kenny Gregory and Pero Cameron , made the bucket under illegal pressure from Williams and took Jets into the lead with one from the stripe. From then on the crowd were treated to some of the fastest and most direct ball seen this season at the Northgate. Calvin unleashed one of his trademark inspector gadget checkouts to deny Stewart a quick reply and from the resultant loose ball John Thomas flighted a monster trey to open his account and moments later gave Kenny Gregory the opportunity to slam down a spectacular alley oop. Williams made a strong drive to pull back two under pressure , but then Todd Cauthorn marked his first few competitive seconds against his one-time team mates with a shrewd inside ball to give "Air" Gregory a chance for another spectacular slam. 11-5 in next to no time! Lynard Stewart made two from under the basket and Calvin replied with one of his trademark jumpers from the edge of the key - exactly the same shot as he seemed unable to convert in the first few matches of the season. Things were looking up. Reinking then sank three from the line as TC checked him as he aimed to shoot from distance, and then we saw a magical Mookie move , picking the ball up in mid court, moving off for all the world like the rabbit with the Duracell batteries in, he wove in and out of all the Sheffield defenders at least once and some of them twice, before finishing off with a cheeky lay up. The next time he drove for the basket, he was checked out before he could get into gear, but he claimed both the frees. Williams replied with a direct drive and shot, but Kenny Gregory kept the gap at 7 and displayed the range of his skills with a left handed shot from a Cameron pass. There was still time in an already frenetic quarter for Scantelbury to be T'd for disagreeing forcefully with the referee's call of pushing on him. His lack of self control cost Sheffield three points, but less than a minute later, Chester coach Robbie Peers was also T'd and Reinking claimed back two of the points. It was not clear exactly why Robbie received the T, but it was later denied that it was awarded by the third referee on the direct orders of the Style Police for a serious shirt infringement. It was now 22-16 and still more than two minutes to go in the period. John McCord picked up an unopposed two from a long pass out of defence by Thomas, Stewart tapped in a Williams shot that rimmed out, and Mookie made one out of two from the line. Nate Reinking made another trey, and then some tough D from Jets saw Sharks concede possession for a shot clock violation. Peter Scantelbury brought bit back to a two point game. Mookie swished another long trey before Yanders closed out the period with one out of two from the line. The score after a fast and furious quarter stood at 28-24 to the Jets

Jets opened the second quarter with 9 unanswered points through Calvin Davis, a three from distance from Pero and a couple of spectacular finished from Kenny Gregory. Stewart managed a close range jump shot fro the Sharks, but a smooth trey from Calvin and another KG solo effort kept Chester's LED flickering constantly. Williams and Reinking did their best to keep the visitors in contention, but to no avail. David "Sweets" Patrick came on and instantly made his mark with a delightful no-look pass into the key to give Kenny Gregory another opening which he took with relish - 44-31 and the pace was unrelenting. Payne made his mark with a neat jumper, but this was instantly bettered by Mookie unleashing a shot from way downtown, followed swiftly by an elegant fadeaway from John McCord, who had not so far played his normal major role in the proceedings. Yanders then hit two shots in a row for five points, but this only inspired first Calvin Davis, then Mookie Thomas to drive for the basket, draw a foul and covert the resultant free shot. 57-40 and more to come! Peter Scantelbury managed another couple of shots before the buzzer to make Sheffield first half collection up to 44, but in the meantime Kenny Gregory, Mookie again from prodigious distance and finally Calvin with a tap in from a rare misdirected shot from Gregory saw Jets into a 20 point lead with 64.

Nate Reinking obviously felt that there was still a way back from the outside as he opened the third quarter with another big 3, but Pero replied with a typical "anything you can do….." shot almost instantaneously. Not to be outdone the Sheffield guard repeated the dose, but Pero's riposte unfortunately rimmed out. Mookie, for the umpteenth time was fouled on his foray into the Sheffield key and he cashed in both from the charity stripe. Such was the intensity of the Jets attacking play at this stage that they almost seemed to be scoring at will - and almost inevitably picking up the and 1s as they drove to the basket, Davis, McCord and Gregory all made the Sharks defence pay the ultimate price and John Thomas was orchestrating the whole shooting match. However hard Sheffield strained, they could make little or no impression. With foul trouble building up, Chris Finch gave home grown talent Dave Keeley extended minutes, and he instantly impressed. He hit three consecutive baskets and checked out a promising looking Kenny Gregory shot and for a while seemed to be playing the jets on his own - but even he could not prevent the Jets juggernaut from rolling and when the buzzer went, Chester led 94-68- a might impressive effort!

With a lead of 26 and a couple of the Sharks first five [ Phoenix and Reinking on 4 fouls], a Sheffield comeback without the help of a Royal Intervention was unlikely in the extreme, and so it proved. Chester seemed to be content to match anything that their opponents could throw at them, and although Sheffield managed a couple of little flurries of scoring, notably through Williams and Yanders, the lead only rarely fell below 20, and then never for long. John McCord, Kenny Gregory and Pero Cameron all added to their personal totals and John Thomas continued with his probing, running and dribbling, regularly drawing fouls and slipping in incisive passes. The most spectacular was a no looking lofted pass into the path of the onrushing Calvin Davis for yet another spectacular alley-oop, taking the score to 117 - 96. Some swift interpassing between Davis, Cameron and Gregory made an opening for john McCord to slam home his final points of the night, but here was still time for Payne to down another three to take Sheffield to 99. Fittingly , however, the final score and the biggest cheer of the night went to the huge trey from miles downtown from who else but Mookie Thomas to cap an all action display that inspired Jets to their biggest victory of the season and blew their trans-Pennine rivals clean away. It said on this site last week, that this weekend was an appointment with Destiny with crucial matches in two competitions. Jets came, they saw and they conquered !