Eagles and Riders Arrange BBL Championship Finals Showdown

The Newcastle Eagles and the Leicester Riders knocked down their respective opponents during the weekend to arrange a BBL Championship Play-Off Final showdown on Saturday.

The top-seeded Eagles earned the finals berth via thrilling way, bouncing back from a surprising defeat in the first left of their semis encounter with the Cheshire Jets.

The Jets stunned the Eagles on their first leg showdown, erupting for 50 points in the first 15 minutes of the game to take full control of the game en route to a huge 99-89 win over the heavily-favored Eagles.

With their backs against the wall after their first-leg debacle, the Eagles played with a lot of sense of urgency in the second leg, starting out strong to continue their push for their fourth silverware this season.

The Eagles were up by four points heading into the final period, but a blistering performance quickly increased their lead an eventually eked out a hard-earned 79-64 win to grab a 168-163 aggregate victory, thus earning a spot in the finals.

Meanwhile, the Riders also had to bounce back from a poor performance in the first leg to earn the right to face the Eagles in this year’s finale.

After absorbing a painful 77-76 defeat against the Rocks in the first leg, the Riders played like a house on fire as they hammered out a convincing 97-72 win in the second leg to grab a 173-149 win on aggregate.

The Eagles and the Riders will meet in the biggest game of the season on Saturday at the National Indoor Stadium in Birmingham.