Capturing the BBL Cup title did not cool down the Newcastle Eagles even by a bit as they swept their two-game assignment during the weekend to stay on top of the BBL Championship standings.
On Friday night, the newly-crowned BBL Cup champions had a slow start but quickly got into their deadly form to score an 86-67 win over the One Health Sharks Sheffield at the Sports Central.
The Sharks looked sharp early in the game as they quickly built a 9-0 lead, but the Eagles responded immediately and took control of the match, taking a 27-15 lead at the end of the opening period.
Their impressive run in the opening period dictated the tempo for the entire game and the Eagles never let the Sharks recover en route to an impressive road victory.
Meanwhile, on Sunday night, the Eagles did not have a walk-in-the-park win like what they had on Friday but they still managed to heat up in time to escape with a hard-earned 101-94 win over Durham Wildcats.
The Wildcats looked poise in pulling off one of the biggest upsets this season after taking a five-point lead heading into the final period.
However, Joe Chapman and Charles Smith came into the rescue as the Eagles turned the tables around in the final period, making huge plays on both ends of the floor to lead their team to their 13th win 14 games this season.
“Durham jumped on us early and played excellent basketball throughout,” said Eagles coach Fab Flournoy. “We really struggled to stop them for most of the game but were just able to string together enough stops in the fourth quarter when it mattered.”
Chapman and Smith racked up 26 points apiece, Andrew Thomson added 17 points and five rebounds, while Paul Gause added 12 points for the Eagles.
Complete BBL Results (January 20-22, 2012)
- Newcastle Eagles 86 – 67 Sheffield Sharks
- Mersey Tigers 66 – 85 Leicester Riders
- Plymouth Raiders 98 – 68 Guildford Hear
- Leicester Riders 75 – 77 MK Lions
- Durham Wildcats 94 – 101 Newcastle Eagles
- Worcester Wolves 97 – 87 Cheshire Jets
- Plymouth Raiders 81 – 75 Cheshire Jets
- Glasgow Rocks 75 – 89 Mersey Tigers
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