Eagles Ride into second spot in BBL
REVENGE AGAINST CHAMPS
NEWCASTLE Eagles secured second place in the BBL Championship by edging out champions Leicester Riders 83-76 in their final home game of the regular season.
Fab Flournoy’s side suffered a loss to the Riders on Wednesday night but managed to get some revenge heading into the play-offs.
The Eagles were led by Rahmon Fletcher’s 24 points, and he was assisted by Scott Martin (18) as they got back to winning ways.
Newcastle, who took the season head-to-head with Leicester with the win, now face the Sheffield Sharks tomorrow before the playoffs begin next week.
Taylor King opened up the game with a double for the visitors, before Fletcher responded immediately with a fantastic treble.
The point guard surpassed 500 BBL points when he landed a double to level the game at 8-8 inside the first few minutes of the game.
Newcastle took a slender lead of four points midway through the quarter, but Harrison Gamble and former Eagle Andy Thompson pulled the Riders to within two. However, a late spur from the hosts gave them a 29-21 lead after the first 10 minutes.
An early run in the second from the visitors was put to an end by Joe Hart before Orlan Jackman took the hosts’ lead up to nine.
Leicester started to turn it on towards the back end of the second quarter, and managed to turn around an 11-point deficit to take a lead of one into the final two minutes of the half.
That 16-2 run stunned the home crowd, but Fletcher had other ideas and sent the Eagles into half-time on a high after shooting a brilliant deuce on the buzzer.
Pierre Hampton opened up the second half with a double for the Riders, but Martin replied and reached a major milestone in the BBL, passing 2,000 points in England’s top league with a triple. The Eagles finally managed to move out into a substantial lead when an 11-2 run midway through the quarter saw them go 64-54 up.
Martin’s deuce closed out the penultimate quarter and the hosts had a seven-point lead going into the final 10 minutes.
Fletcher stole the ball in his own half before driving and laying up for two, but the Riders pulled back through Eric Robertson and Brandon Clark, making it a three-point game.
Flournoy’s double looked to hand the hosts a bit more breathing room, but King, who finished the game with a double-double, landed a treble, ensuring the Eagles had work to do to see off their opponents.
Fletcher went two-for-three from the line to secure the victory in the dying stages.