Saturday had seen Lions reach the final with a 72-63 win over the league champions the Newcastle Eagles, Lions having won their first ever trophy with a narrow 69-66 win over Eagles in the BBL Cup final at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham in January.

And the NIA was again the venue for Finals Weekend, Lions facing Eagles and Heat tackling Plymouth in the two semi-finals on Saturday. Lions were first to book their place in the final with Heat then downing Plymouth 81-66 in their semi-final.

The final saw Lions take an early lead but Guildford hit back and scored 14 of the final 16 points of the quarter to lead 24-21.

Guildford remained ahead in the second quarter but were unable to establish a commanding lead. Tony Windless and Shawn Jamison helped Lions level the game at 38-38 before Heat took a 42-41 lead into half time.

Lions remained in contention in the third session but Heat led 60-54 and then took a 67-61 advantage into the final quarter.

Heat then moved 73-68 ahead and a 10-0 run left Lions trailing 83-68.
Lions were still not done and Dru Spinks and Kevin Griffin helped Lions to an 11-2 run and so cut the deficit to 89-82.

However, Lions hopes were quickly dashed by four foul shots in quick succession after a technical foul was called on Lions chief executive and head coach Vince Macaulay following a foul given on Spinks.

Indeed, Guildford scored more points in the final quarter than any other team in play-off history as they secured the coveted end-of-season prize, Heat's Danny Gilbert scoring a game-high 27 points which earned him the most valuable player award with captain Spinks being Lions' highest scorer with 22 points.

Terrell Brown led Lions' scoring with 17 points against Eagles on Saturday, ably assisted by Robert Youngblood's double double of 12 points and 12 rebounds.

l The weekend also saw Lions chief executive Vince Macaulay presented with the coach of the season award from Molten's Bob Hope.