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Cos Saints........ 77 (16, 44, 67)
Sheffied Sabres 53 (10, 25, 38)
The City of Sheffield Saints reached their second playoff final in as many years on Sunday night when they stunned the Sheffield Sabres with a 24 point win at the EIS. Having been soundly beaten by the Sabres in the league only a few weeks ago, it was a much more focused Saints team that jumped out to an early 4-0 lead behind Garnet Gayle and Pawel Szafraniec. Ex Sheffield Sharks Richard Windle and Adrian Anderson combined for 8 points for the Sabres but Gayle and Andy Turner kept the Saints ahead and a 3 pointer from Gary Bywater gave them a 16-10 lead after the first period.
The Saints' defence continued to cause problems for the Sabres in the second quarter while 7 points in a row from Pete Olusoga helped the Saints extend their advantage to 26-13. As the Saints were picking holes in the Sabres' defence, Rich Fooks came off the bench to drive home the Saints' lead with 6 points in the quarter. Turner and Rick Marsh were virtually unstoppable in the paint and a pair of foul shots from Chris Law gave the Saints a 44-25 lead at the half.
Neither team could score for the first two minutes of the second half but a Szafraniec score under the basket, followed by another 3 pointer from Gayle and 2 points from Chris Hackett, took the fight out of the Sabres. Anderson kept on working hard for his team but 7 more points from Olusoga and two more 3 pointers from Hackett and Gayle put the Saints 67-38 in front going into the final quarter.
With the Saints in the driving seat, Rich Fooks quite simply owned the 4th quarter. Kris Allot and Eugene Andrew were on the floor for the Saints and Fooks went on a 10 point tear to take his tally to a season high 16 points. With 5 minutes to go and the game effectively over, the Saints ran out the clock for a 77-53 win and a place in the Division 3 playoff final.
Scorers
Saints
Gayle(18), Fooks(16), Olusoga(14), Olusoga(16), Turner(8), Hackett(7), Bywater (4), Marsh(4), Szafraniec(4), Law(2), Allott, Andrew
Sabres
Anderson(13), Windle(11), Chandley(6)
The Saints will play old foes Leeds Carnegie next Saturday after they won their semi-final by just 2 points on Saturday. Leeds just pipped the Saints to the Division 4 league title last season but it was the Saints who reached the playoff final, only to lose by 6 points to Brookes Sport Oxford. The Saints just missed out on the Division 3 league title again this year with Leeds taking the honours, but with the overall league record between the teams tied at 2-2, this is sure to be a hard fought and thrilling final.