Scorchers are burned by the red-hot Eagles
LINEKER and Beardsley. Torvill and Dean. Molinari and Fleetwood sports fans love a good partnership.
Whisper it quietly, but Newcastle Eagles might just have landed a great one after last night’s emphatic 11482 win over Surrey Scorchers.
Victor Moses and Rahmon Fletcher have only been on court together for a matter of weeks and yet the best of last night’s intuitive interplay was bordering on the telepathic.
Either side of the half, a nonplussed Surrey Scorchers side had no answer to the former’s incisive finishing and the latter’s eye for a killer pass.
As highlights reels go it was Oscarwinning stuff.
That both Moses and Fletcher headed into tomorrow’s clash at Plymouth with double doubles under their belts was hardly a surprise.
What did raise eyebrows was the way in which Newcastle’s rookie partnership played with such extrasensory precision throughout.
Ultimately Surrey simply had no answer. Nobody did.
Yet Creon Raftopoulos’s men initially maintained their Copperbox momentum by dropping four from five three-pointers on their way to a three-point first-quarter advantage.
In sharp contrast, the misfiring hosts failed to ace any of their four attempts from beyond the arc and Fabulous Flournoy cut a frustrated figure as his players frequently strayed off message.
Where Newcastle had locked down London City Royals with a stifling display of defence a fortnight earlier, struggling Surrey were allowed too many easy looks, too often during a surprisingly competitive opening period.
Flournoy had already taken Moses to task in front of the home bench after the former Cheshire man had let slip an impressive start and the next target of his ire was never far away.
Moses is by no means the first Newcastle player to feel the full force of a playcaller renowned for his very public debriefs and he will not be the last.
Moses’ response was riveting as he slipped back into the offensive groove to lead all scorers with 15 points heading into the half – thanks, in large part, to an explosive 120 seconds from a red-hot Fletcher.
The two-time BBL MVP had been biding his time prior to a series of questionable refereeing calls midway through the second quarter.
Stung by what he clearly saw as a number of baffling injustices, Newcastle’s returning favourite chose to redress the balance by bringing his own brand of exhibition basketball to Sport Central.
As the clock ticked down towards the break, Fletcher looked more like a prima ballerina than a pro baller as he teased his rivals with the kind of twinkle-toed magic which made Dame Darcey Bussell a household name.
Moses began to dominate in the paint and everything pointed to the wilting Scorchers running out of steam.
He had arrived on Tyneside with a reputation for scoring big and when a fadeaway jumper took his tally to 23 – with four minutes remaining in the third – another huge haul looked on the cards.
With double figure rebounds for good measure, the Eagles’ clutch close-season signing looked every inch the cult crowd favourite in waiting.
Moses bowed out with 29 points and 13 boards while Fletcher added 13 assists to his 13 points.
Surrey will argue the opposite but this really was an Eagles’ match made in heaven.