Everton Tigers (27,52,73) 84 - 72 (12,32,48) Guildford Heat

Joseph 24

Drakeford 15

Martin 13

Gumbs 27

Babalola 23

Thomson 12

The Everton Tigers will be relieved that they have one head-to-head record over a team already this season, and that team is the Guildford Heat, who after beating the Tigers earlier this season to make a statement under new player-coach Chad McKnight, fell by 84 points to 72 tonight at the Greenbank Sports Academy in Liverpool.

The Tigers got off to a great start, keeping their opponents scoreless for the first four minutes, whilst scoring ten points themselves to lead 10-0. McKnight got his team off the mark with an easy bucket inside, and the Heat began to claw their way into the Tigers' ten point lead, only for the Tigers to continue to dominate and go 19-9 up with just under two minutes left. They then outscored their opponents 8-3 to close out the quarter 27-12 to the better.

The second stanza was a similar story, as the Tigers went on a 9-0 run to start with. The Heat then cut the gap to twenty points thanks to three charity shots from 'LA' Aaron Drakeford. The gap remained between 20 and 25 points for the rest of the period, despite two more free throws from Drakeford, and scores from Kenny Langhorne, three points from Mike Martin, and a triple from Julius Joseph. The half time score read 52-32 in the Sharks favour.

The Heat being outscored 21-16 by the Tigers proved to be influential in the context of the game, as they ended the third quarter 73-48 up, with a huge mountain to climb in the fourth for the Heat, if they were to win the game. Joseph continued to show his scoring prowess, with a quick basket in answer to scores from Kevin Bell and Jerome Gumbs from the Tigers, but once the gap reached 30 points at 80-50, it was always going to be a struggle. The Heat scored the next nine points in the ball game and subsequently completed a 13-2 run to finish the match, but the Tigers were already home and dry with an 84-72 win the end result.

Everton were led by Jerome Gumbs, who had an impressive outing with 27 points to his name, Olu Babalola stepped up with 23 points and young Brit Andrew Thomson had 12. The Heat were led in vain by Julius Joseph, who had 24 points.

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