2004–05 British Basketball League season

The 2004–05 BBL season was the 18th campaign in the history of the British Basketball League, which commenced on 2 October 2004, and ended with Newcastle Eagles' win in the Play-off Final on 1 May 2005. Eagles won their first piece of silverware in 13 years with victories in the play-offs and the BBL Trophy, against Brighton Bears on their home court at The Brighton Centre.[1]

2004–05 BBL season
LeagueBritish Basketball League
SportBasketball
Roll of Honour
BBL championsChester Jets
Play Off's championsNewcastle Eagles
BBL Cup championsBrighton Bears
BBL Trophy championsNewcastle Eagles
British Basketball League seasons

The League saw the addition of a new franchise for the first time in eight years – when Edinburgh Rocks joined in 1998 – with Plymouth Raiders stepping up from the English Basketball League Division 1.

Teams

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Team City/Area Arena Capacity Last season
Birmingham Bullets Birmingham North Solihull Sports Centre 1,000 10th
Brighton Bears Brighton Brighton Centre &
Burgess Hill Triangle
3,600
1,800
1st
Chester Jets Chester Northgate Arena 1,000 5th
Leicester Riders Leicester John Sanford Centre 800 9th
London Towers London Crystal Palace National Sports Centre 1,500 3rd
Milton Keynes Lions Milton Keynes Bletchley Centre 800 8th
Newcastle Eagles Newcastle upon Tyne Metro Radio Arena 6,500 6th
Plymouth Raiders Plymouth Plymouth Pavilions 1,480 New
Sheffield Sharks Sheffield Ponds Forge 1,600 2nd
Scottish Rocks Glasgow Braehead Arena 4,000 4th
Thames Valley Tigers Bracknell John Nike Sports Centre 1,000 7th

Notable occurrences

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BBL championship (Tier 1)

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Final standings

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Pos Team Pld W L % Pts
1 Chester Jets 40 32 8 0.800 64
2 Newcastle Eagles 40 31 9 0.775 62
3 London Towers 40 29 11 0.725 58
4 Sheffield Sharks 40 26 14 0.650 52
5 Brighton Bears 40 22 18 0.550 44
6 Scottish Rocks 40 19 21 0.475 38
7 Thames Valley Tigers 40 18 22 0.450 36
8 Milton Keynes Lions 40 15 25 0.375 30
9 Plymouth Raiders 40 12 28 0.300 24
10 Leicester Riders 40 11 29 0.275 22
11 Birmingham Bullets 40 5 35 0.125 10
= League winners
= Qualified for the play-offs

Playoffs

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Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final
         
1 Chester Jets 81
8 Milton Keynes Lions 71
1 Chester Jets 74
6 Scottish Rocks 72
3 London Towers 63
6 Scottish Rocks 65
1 Chester Jets 75
2 Newcastle Eagles 78
2 Newcastle Eagles 105
7 Thames Valley Tigers 72
2 Newcastle Eagles 75
4 Sheffield Sharks 65
4 Sheffield Sharks 91
5 Brighton Bears 56

Quarter-finals

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Semi-finals

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30 April 2005
Newcastle Eagles 75–65 Sheffield Sharks

Final

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1 May 2005
Chester Jets 75–78 Newcastle Eagles
Scoring by quarter: 14–13, 24–24, 22–18, 15–23
Pts: Trey Moore 20, DJ Harrison 14, Billy Singleon 13 Pts: Andrew Sullivan (MVP) 27, TJ Walker 15, Frank Bennett 9, Jeremy Hyatt 9, Charles Smith 9
National Indoor Arena, Birmingham
Attendance: ?
Jets coach Paul Smith
Eagles coach Fab Flournoy

EBL National League Division 1 (Tier 2)

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Final standings

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Pos Team Pld W L % Pts
1 City of Sheffield Arrows 22 21 1 0.955 42
2 London United 22 18 4 0.818 36
3 Reading Rockets 22 16 6 0.727 32
4 Worcester Wolves 22 13 9 0.591 26
5 Worthing Thunder 22 13 9 0.591 26
6 Manchester Magic 22 12 10 0.545 24
7 Teesside Mohawks 22 10 12 0.455 20
8 Essex & Herts Leopards 22 9 13 0.409 18
9 PAWS London Capital 22 7 15 0.318 14
10 Solent Stars 22 5 17 0.227 10
11 Kingston Wildcats 22 5 17 0.227 10
12 Coventry Crusaders 22 3 19 0.136 6
= League winners
= Qualified for the play-offs

EBL National League Division 2 (Tier 3)

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Final standings

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Pos Team Pld W L % Pts
1 Nottingham Knights 20 18 2 0.900 36
2 Mansfield Express 20 15 5 0.750 30
3 West Hertfordshire Warriors 20 14 6 0.700 28
4 King's Lynn Fury 20 13 7 0.650 26
5 Liverpool 20 9 11 0.450 18
6 Colchester United 20 8 12 0.400 16
7 Bath Romans 20 8 12 0.400 16
8 Leicester Phoenix 20 8 12 0.400 16
9 Northampton Neptunes 20 7 13 0.350 14
10 Hackney White Heat 20 5 15 0.250 10
11 Tamar Valley Cannons 20 4 16 0.200 8
= League winners
= Qualified for the play-offs

BBL Cup

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First round

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Team 1 Team 2 Score
Leicester Riders Thames Valley Tigers 77-95
Birmingham Bullets Plymouth Raiders 73-75
London Towers Newcastle Eagles 84-86

Semi-finals

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Team 1 Team 2 Score
Brighton Bears Milton Keynes Lions 78-68
Scottish Rocks Chester Jets 90-75

Final

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16 January 2005
Brighton Bears 90–74 Scottish Rocks
Pts: Andrew Alleyne (MVP) 27, Ryan Huntley 22, Tony Holley 14, Steve Lepore 8, Yorick Williams 8, Ajou Deng 8, Rahdi Knapp 3 Pts: Donald Cole 22, Tony Windless 13, Adrian Henning 10, Lamont McIntosh 10, Philip Perre 10, Roni Gordon 6, Dan Wardrope 3
National Indoor Arena, Birmingham
Attendance: ?
Bears coach Nick Nurse
Rocks coach Steve Swanson

BBL Trophy

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Group stage

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Semi-finals

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Final

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6 March 2005
Brighton Bears 60–85 Newcastle Eagles
Pts: Ronnie Baker 21, Steve Lepore 13, Andrew Alleyne 9 Cheyne Gadson 9 Pts: Jeremy Hyatt, 22, Charles Smith (MVP) 18, Frank Bennett 13, TJ Walker 12
Brighton Centre, Brighton
Attendance: ?
Bears coach Nick Nurse
Eagles coach Fab Flournoy

Statistics leaders

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Category Player Stat
Points per game   Trey Moore (Chester Jets) 22.8
Rebounds per game   Terrence Durham (Plymouth Raiders) 13.6
Assists per game   TJ Walker (Newcastle Eagles) 7.3

References

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  1. ^ Rob Dugdale (6 March 2005). "Eagles secure BBL Trophy victory". BBC. Retrieved 9 November 2010.
  2. ^ "Bears face fine for Euro pull-out". BBC Sport. BBC. 27 October 2004. Retrieved 9 November 2010.
  3. ^ "Bullets edge out Riders". BBC Sport. BBC. 2 October 2004. Retrieved 9 November 2010.
Preceded by BBL seasons
2004–05
Succeeded by