Basketball: Giants in debt to sparkling White

MANCHESTER GIANTS can look ahead to the final of the Uni-ball Trophy after sealing their place with a 93-88 victory over Sheffield Sharks on Wednesday night. The triumph gave them a 174-165 aggregate success over the holders as they bounced back from trailing by 10 points in the first quarter. The Giants were made to fight all the way by the Sharks but, helped by John White's game-high points haul of 36, they just crept home.

Thames Valley Tigers strengthened their hold on third spot in the Budweiser League with a 97-89 victory at Newcastle Eagles.

Elsewhere, the Greater London Leopards just held on to defeat Chester Jets 86-85 in a thrilling finale at the London Arena. Milton Keynes pulled away in the final quarter to defeat the Edinburgh Rocks 73-63 and climb into ninth spot.

On the other side of the Atlantic, Seattle Supersonics' veteran Detlef Schrempf has told a German newspaper that he plans to apply for U.S. Citizenship. "It's very likely. The papers have been lying around for a long time," the German-born forward, a former NBA All-Star, told Bild.

The 36-year-old also said he has considered returning to Germany at the end of his NBA career and playing for his country's top club, Alba Berlin. "But to live in another country than America, even if it is Germany, for an extended time isn't that simple," said Schrempf, who attended high school and college in Washington.

Schrempf has enjoyed a 14-year career with Dallas, Indiana and Seattle and is one of the best known foreign players in the NBA. If he changes citizenship, it would end German hopes of picking their best-ever basketball player for the national team.