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Doing the double

3/ 4/2008

MANCHESTER Magic clinched a league and cup double after lifting the EBL1 title last weekend.

The National Cup winners completed the second part of their double triumph on a nerve-jangling final day.

Magic went down 91-89 at Reading and finished on level points with their big rivals, only to claim the crown based on their head-to-head record against the Rockets.

A defeat of seven points or more would have handed the trophy to Reading after Magic won 98-91 in Manchester earlier in the season.

However, they kept the margin to just two with a spirited last-gasp fightback to leave coach Jeff Jones delighted.

"I am really proud of the boys," he said. "Down the straight they were brilliant.

"We trailed by 15 points with five or six minutes to go and were out of it, but the boys who were out on the floor pulled us through.

"They were great – Orlan Jackman, Pat Dwyer, Jamall Hilliard, Steve Gayle and Andre Rankine. Andre was phenomenal. They got the job done.

"It would have been nice to have finished on a win and we didn’t play that well, but we hung in there and we are delighted, the boys are ecstatic."

The title is the club’s first since its inception in 1997 and Magic have the chance to make it a treble in the end-of-season play-offs.

They face Taunton Tigers in the quarter-finals at the Amaechi Centre on Saturday, before the Final Four showdown at Sheffield.

Click on the video window for highlights of Magic's clash with Reading ...