Leeds Carnegie closed the gap on Division One leaders with a comfortable victory against Tees Valley Mohawks (91-75) on Saturday, but Leicester Warriors' title hopes took a knock with a home loss against Taunton Tigers (86-72).

 

Led by 22 Adrian Fenyn points, Carnegie never looked back after a strong first period against the Mohawks.

 

Matt Newby's side went into the first break 28-19 ahead, and that lead grew to 52-41 at half-time before a 20-14 third period sent them into the final break ahead by 17. With Ladi Brown finishing on 18 and Albert Margai on 14, Carnegie closed out the win despite being outscored 20-19 in the fourth period.

 

Nathan Connolly led all scorers with 27 points for Mohawks, with Ike Attah (12) and Steve Leven (10) completing their top scorers.

 

Meanwhile, in Leicester, Warriors led 28-27 at the first break, only to see Tigers outscore them 15-6 in the second period to lead by eight going into the locker room. The teams shared 36 points in the third period before Taunton completed their ninth league victory of the campaign with a 26-20 final stanza.

 

Paul Yabsley led all scorers with 27 for Tigers, with Chris Page adding 22 and Rickwood 10. Warriors were led by 20 MD Janiska points, while Tyler Kathan added 18 and Carl Pearson ten.

 

The basement battle in Sheffield saw Coventry Crusaders improve their survival chances with a 96-78 victory against the Arrows.

 

Despite Sebastian Chitagu pouring in 36 points, Pete Kelly's team now look in real danger of finishing in the relegation zone having won only two of their first 17 games.

 

Jon Olinger opened the scoring for the Crusaders as he drained a trey, but Anthony Oxley replied from downtown. A Chitagu basket gave Arrows their biggest lead of the night at 5-3, but once Matt Smith scored from outside with just over two minutes gone, Crusaders never looked back.

 

A pair of Olinger free-throws sent Crusaders into the first break with a 33-24 lead and the closest Arrows came in the second period was when Oxley hit another three-pointer to make the score 37-31 with three minutes gone.

 

Smith hit a two-pointer to launch a 9-0 run and although Chitagu broke the run, Crusaders scored the final eight points of the half to hold a commanding 54-33 half-time lead.

 

Arrows never cut that deficit during the third period and Dave Edden buried a buzzer-beating three to send Coventry in the final break leading 81-51.

 

Chitagu opened the fourth period scoring and Arrows did chip away at the deficit, but they were still down by 29 points going into the final five minutes and although they outscored Coventry 16-5 in the remaining minutes, it was too late to prevent Crusaders collecting their fifth win of the season.

 

Olinger led Crusaders with 24 points and 11 assists, with Smith adding 22 points and Danso 21.

 

Chitagu added ten rebounds and five steals, while Oxley hit four three-pointers on his way to 20 points and six rebounds. Semi Eboigbe also had a double-double with 13 points and 16 boards.

 

Full EBL results from 6/7 March