The Suffolk Plate and Cup finals take place over the coming weekend with fittingly the top four league teams matching up against each other. League champions Sledgehammers play Holbrook Eagles in the cup while league runners-up, BT Lasers, face California Cougars in the plate.

The form book suggests a win for Sledgehammers in the cup as they only lost one game during their league campaign, but the one loss was against Eagles back in November. Both teams are high scorers and like to play attacking basketball so it could be down to who hits form on the day. For Eagles, Sam Saggers and Jacob Swift have been in good touch all season, both averaging more than 21 points per game while the evergreen Nick Newman has chipped in with double digits in most games. Sledgehammers would seem to have the edge with 5 of the squad having had national league experience. Top of their scorers this season has been Bert Scott with more than 22 points per game but Jules Keeling and the Ward brothers, Alec and Matthew, are not very far behind.
 

In the plate final the form book indicates a win for Cougars who have a 2-1 record against Lasers in the league. Cougars can consider themselves a little unlucky not to be contesting the cup final as in an early round they lost to a buzzer-beater from Eagles. The Copleston-based side have only lost twice in 2010, both times to the champions. They have several players who can score double figures if they are on form with Michael Holbrook leading their scorers, although he has only managed 5 starts since November. Leroy Manhertz came in mid-way through the season and opened his account with 48 points in his first game, though again he has been missing recently. If player-coach Joe Rudd has a full squad on the day, Cougars will take some beating.

Lasers had a poor start to the season, winning only twice before Christmas but a strong second half of the season saw them push themselves up the league to finish runners-up. Their good run seems to have coincided with the recruitment of the Dixon brothers, Anton and Ethan, who have totalled over 280 points between them in just 7 games and with the experience of Lance Peters, Duane Kostrzewski and player-coach Femi Ariyo they have enough strength in depth to give Cougars a tough game.
 

The finals will be held at Holywells High School with the plate tipping at 14:20hrs and the cup final at 16:20hrs