Jets warm up for Cup with back-to-back wins

With a week to go before they defend their National Cup in the final against Brighton Bears, the Chester Jets registered their eighth and ninth league victories in a row.

Calvin Davis scored 33 points in Saturday's 119-97 romp at Leicester and he added 21 more yesterday in the Jets' 100-92 home victory over Thames Valley Tigers.

Chester chose the right weekend to hit form because the leaders, Sheffield Sharks, lost for only the second time in 11 games when they went down 76-67 to the Scottish Rocks. Ted Berry, instrumental in giving the Rocks a 10-point lead at the start of the fourth quarter, led all scorers with 28 points, while Lynard Stewart had 22 in reply for the Sharks.

Brighton stayed in second place with an 86-74 win away to the London Towers on Saturday.

Elsewhere, the return of point guard Rob Paternostro gave the Birmingham Bullets the control they had lacked in recent close defeats as they edged to victory over the Essex Leopards, 88-83 at Aston Villa.

The Bullets took control of the game in the 2nd quarter, but Essex trimmed the lead to three points with 40 seconds remaining. Paternostro, in his first game back after leaving his Belgian club, ran the shot clock down before scoring to give the Bullets a win that takes them off the bottom of the BBL standings.