Eagles’ glory hopes die as the Lions roar
LONDON TOO GOOD FOR FAB’S SQUAD
THE dreams of Esh Group Eagles Newcastle returning to a BBL Cup final at the Arena Birmingham were rudely shattered in London, writes JEFF KING.
After taking a slender two-point lead from the first leg at home, it was always going to be tough going into the Lions Den - and so it proved.
The Lions triumphed 97-85 at the Copperbox Arena to claim a 170-160 aggregate victory.
The Londoners have been the form team in the BBL this season and showed that form with a solid display.
Once they got in front they showed great resilience against everything the Eagles could throw at them.
For Eagles’ coach Fab Flournoy and his men it would have been a long trip home to Tyneside.
London will now face either Manchester Giants or Glasgow Rocks in the showpiece final on January 27 - the Rocks holding an eight-point lead with their home leg to come.
It was Flournoy who got his side off to a terrific start by hitting two triples either side of a Victor Moses deuce to put the visitors up 8-2 and by eight overall.
The Lions hit back with Justin Robinson and Ladarius Tabb prominent in that comeback to take the lead by a point.
Back-to-back triples by Moses and Darius Defoe had Newcastle up again on aggregate.
It was nip and tuck thereafter until Robinson and Paul Guede both tripled with the last scores of the quarter.
It meant the Lions led 27-26 and when Flo Larkai dropped in a freethrow to open the second period the aggregate scores were tied up.
Off the bench for the Eagles came Jeremy Smith to score four quick points to regain the advantage - but London began to look strong despite the best efforts of their opponents.
The decisive break then came as London, led by the impressive Brandon Peel, produced a 12-4 run which gave them control of the tie.
Smith kept his side in it but by the end of the half the gap had increased to 53-45 and the Eagles were playing catch-up.
Despite the huge efforts of the impressive Moses and Smith in particular, they could not force their way back in the second half.
Peel’s massive triple on the third quarter buzzer meant the Lions had increased their advantage to 11 on the night and nine on aggregate with ten minutes to play.
Kyle Williams’ triple to open the final period gave the visitors hope but again London held firm and just came up with big shots when required.
A 14-6 run included four baskets from beyond the arc and at 89-73 Newcastle looked dead and buried.
Still their pride and fighting ability brought them back in to it, however, and Drew Lasker netted a pair of free-throws late on to cut the gap to 91-85 and to four on aggregate. However, the Eagles were reduced to fouling and sending Lions to the line to try and stop the clock.
GB international and reigning BBL Most Valuable Player Robinson was the man Newcastle had to foul as he took control of the ball.
He iced the tie for his side with four from four free-throws to send the BBL leaders through.
For Flournoy and his staff this was an opportunity not taken and they will need to look long and hard at where they go now in their quest to re-establish themselves at the top of British basketball.
LONDON : Ladarius Tabb 22, Brandon Peel 19, Justin Robinson 19. NEWCASTLE : Victor Moses 27, Jeremy Smith 18, Kyle Williams 10.