The Newcastle Eagles extended their lead in the BBL Championship standings after scoring an impressive win during the weekend along with the loss of the second-running Worcester Wolves.
The newly-crowned BBL Cup champions had a strong start and never faltered to hammer out a dominating 94-77 win over the Mersey Tigers to build a four-game advantage in the race to the top of the BBL Championship standings.
Newcastle came out firing right from the opening tip and quickly raced to a 14-4 lead led by the 10-point early explosion from Paul Gause, leading to 25-7 domination in the opening period.
However, the Tigers unleashed a huge 22-run before the half to narrow the lead down to a point, 38-37 at the half. They managed to take the lead in the third period, but the Eagles had a quick answer to stop their run and eventually losing the game in a blowout.
Charles Smith had another impressive performance, scoring 22 points to go with 11 rebounds, while Joe Chapman added 20 points and seven boards.
Andrew Thomson also had a share of the spotlight as he finished with 19 points and seven rebounds, Paul Gause added 16 points, while Darius Defoe racked up 12 points and seven rebounds for the Eagles, who improved to 14-1 this season.
David Aliu, on the other hand, led the Tigers with 22 points and 11 rebounds, while Myles Hesson added 20 points and seven boards.
Meanwhile, the Wolves absorbed a costly defeat on Friday night, bowing down to the Sharks Sheffield, 74-73 – a defeat that hurt their top-spot chase. The Raiders, on the other hand, kept themselves in the race after escaping with an 85-78 win over the Glasgow Rocks for their ninth win in 11 games this season.
Complete BBL Results (January 27 – 29)
- Newcastle Eagles 94 – 77 Mersey Tigers
- MK Lions 82 – 73 Durham Wildcats
- Sheffield Sharks 74 – 73 Worcester Wolves
- Leicester Riders 82 – 87 Glasgow Rocks
- Durham Wildcats 90 – 86 Cheshire Jets
- Guildford Heat 83 – 66 MK Lions
- Cheshire Jets 73 – 80 Leicester Riders
- Plymouth Raiders 85 – 78 Glasgow Rocks
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