Basketball: Johnson just not magic enough

IT WAS nearly "magic" Johnson, but not quite. The Greater London Leopards handed the debutant Rashod Johnson the ball with four seconds on the clock and the assignment to hit the winning three-point shot. But the ball hit the rim and bounced away for the Sheffield Sharks to avenge their 1997 National Cup final defeat against the Leopards and delight the majority of the fans in the 6,000-plus crowd on their home court.

Leopards, the ailing Budweiser League champions, had staged an 18-point comeback over Newcastle Eagles to reach the final, and produced another revival, from 13-0, to claw back Sheffield's lead in the second half and edge 57-55 ahead.

But Terrell Myers, whose three-pointer won the League Trophy for Sheffield last season, steered the Sharks back on course with 17 second-half points to earn the MVP Award.

Johnson, who joined the club only on Friday, was a loose cannon in the Leopards' offence but his pace and unpredictability caused Myers and Travis Conlan enough problems early on to disrupt the control they had exerted in two huge League wins over Leopards earlier in the season.

Johnson's mere presence created more room for Eric Burks, who found Robert Youngblood and Brian Moore under the basket with two breathtaking passes.

Youngblood's defensive rebounding and Tim Moore's offensive power held sway over Sheffield's Todd Cauthorn and Will Johnson. Conlan, inevitably, broke loose, drawing the scores level at 28, 30 and 32 points with three successive drives to the basket before Iain McKinney's three-pointer gave Sheffield the lead at 35-34.

Conlan also made the last play of the half, stripping the ball from Stedroy Baker to take a 39-36 lead at the interval.

Myers and Conlan stretched their advantage to 55-44 before Tim Moore started a 13-0 recovery over four minutes which threatened to turn the game as the Sharks' offence suddenly shuddered to a halt.

Burks put Leopards 64-61 ahead, Cauthorn and Conlan regained the lead for Sheffield and then Tim Moore tied the scores at 65 with a single free- throw.

Sheffield were controversially awarded possession after Baker appeared to be bundled off the court and Myers profited with what proved to be the winning basket.

Finch claimed he did not begin preparations for the final until his team had survived Friday night's 92-85 double overtime win in the Budweiser League at Birmingham Bullets, which took them to joint leadership of the table with Manchester Giants.

Derby Storm recovered from Friday's surprising 73-72 overtime League defeat at Milton Keynes to beat Thames Valley Tigers 110-92 on Saturday in the League Trophy, to eliminate them from contention for the quarter- finals.

Scorers: Leopards: Burks 4, Youngblood 15, Johnson 15, T Moore 22, B Moore 5, Baum 4. Sheffield: McKinney 4, Myers 29, Cauthorn 8, Windle 1, Conlan 16, Johnson 9.