PJ: TITLE WILL BE TOUGH
03/28/2008

Coming off the back of a big win over the Newcastle Eagles, and with another important weekend ahead, Guildford Heat Head Coach, Paul James, still believes that their north-east rivals are the favourites for the BBL title.

Despite seeing his side snap the Eagles' twelve-game winning run, he concedes that Fab Flournoy's team will likely finish top, but wants to keep the BBL Championship trophy in his club's cabinet for as long as possible,

"We want to try to hold on to the league trophy for as long as possible, all we can do is beat them and see if anyone else can," said James, who will see the Eagles once more at The Spectrum in the regular season.

"I'm not sure that the teams that they've got left to play are capable of beating them.

"It's disappointing that we have the head-to-head on Newcastle and Plymouth, and we've swept Milton Keynes, but we've thrown it away with losses against Sheffield, Raiders and Everton early in the season.

"If Newcastle win it, they deserve it, they've beaten the teams they should have."

After conceding the first points of Sunday's match, Heat stunned the visiting Eagles with a 24-8 run to assume control, and with EJ Harrison and Mike Martin each scoring 21, they never looked back.

James enjoyed the game, and thought both teams played their part in an entertaining encounter,

"It was a very good win, and that's the best we've played at home in the BBL this season. We had two good teams going at it for 40 minutes, and it was a very good game of basketball. It was well refereed, we didn't notice them which is always a good sign."

The two sides are due to meet again at The Spectrum on Sunday April 6. Newcastle need only two wins from their remaining games to wrap up the title.

Heat return to action on Sunday with a trip to BiG Storage Cheshire Jets, while Eagles host fourth placed Marshall MK Lions on Friday night.

A strong third period proved to be key when Heat traveled to Cheshire in October as Guildford won 98-89. Danny Gilbert led all scorers in the game with 26 points for the Heat, including 16 points in the final quarter alone, while Shawn Myers led the Jets scoring with 25. The return at The Spectrum proved to be more one-sided as Guildford turned up the heat in the second half to win 111-91.