Lewis gunning for final triumph (From Echo)

Essex Pirates' Tim Lewis gunning for final triumph

12:10pm Friday 8th April 2011 in Basketball By Chris Phillips

ESSEX Pirates head coach Tim Lewis wants his team to end a disappointing season with a win this weekend.

Pirates, who have triumphed just once all term, play twice this weekend as they travel to MK Lions tonight before hosting Guildford Heat tomorrow. And Lewis would love to sign off in style.

“Results haven’t been as good as we wanted this year but hopefully we can get a win this weekend,” said Lewis.

“They will both be hard games and we will need to play well to get a good result.

“We play Lions first and they’re in a rich vein of form at the moment.

“They have been putting in some consistent performances with Demarius Bolds and Stefan Gill running the show, so we will have to have a look at the tape and put together a strategy to win the game.”

Lions sit 10th in the 12-team British Basketball League table and have won 12 of their 34 games this season. They beat title contenders Newcastle Eagles last weekend and will provide tough opposition for Pirates.

So too will Guildford Heat at the Southend Leisure and Tennis Centre on Saturday evening. Heat currently occupy the final play-off position in eighth and have beaten Pirates twice already this season.

They won 89-73 in Southend in the first meeting between the two teams in November before Heat triumphed at home 84-63 in January.

Pirates will therefore be hoping it will be third time lucky in their final outing of the season.

“We haven’t played Heat for a while, and not since they changed their line-up, so we’ll be doing a lot of tape work this week,” said Lewis.

“They need the win for the play-offs and we want to finish with a victory in our last home game of the season, so it should be a good game. Then it will be back to work for next season for us.”

But Pirates go in to this weekend's double-header on the back of two defeats in quick succession.

They lost against the Cheshire Jets 106-83, before also being seen off 88-70 against the Leicester Riders.

“It was a good game against Cheshire,” said Lewis. “We started well and led at half time but we lost our way in the fourth period when it got more physical.

“We did a good job scouting them, and I was pleased to match them for three quarters but it was the opposite against Riders. We started slowly and despite having some good looks, we couldn’t score for the first four minutes.

“We did a good job defensively though, holding them under 20 points in each of the first three periods and I thought the score flattered them a bit.”

Both games tip off at 7.30pm.