Both teams treated the bumper 7,500 crowd at the NIA to a thrilling contest that saw the Riders leading by as many as 14 points at the start of the final quarter and the Eagles making an amazing comeback and take the lead inside the final two minutes of the contest.
The MVP award went to Jay Couisnard of the Riders as he finished the game with a team-high 17 points, but it was Joe Chapman who led all scorers on the day as he netted 29 points for the Eagles in the defeat.
The Riders enjoyed a lead for the vast majority of the game and a strong finish to the third quarter saw them secure their biggest lead of the game at 51-65 heading into the final stanza.
In the final period, Chapman and Jamell Anderson traded three-pointers to leave the Riders leading by 12 points at 64-76. The Eagles demonstrated that they are not to be written off as Charles Smith sparked a 14-2 burst to tie the game up at 78-78 with 1:25 remaining in the game.
Eagles player-coach Fab Flournoy’s basket with 1:05 remaining gave the Eagles the lead at 80-79, but a huge three-pointer from Zaire Taylor gave the Riders the lead once again at 80-82 with 45 seconds remaining.
The Eagles had chances to win the game, but Chapman and Damon Huffman missed their three-point attempts, while Calvo and Anthony Rowe held their nerve from the foul-line to secure the victory and pick up the big victory from the Riders.
At the end of the game, Riders Head Coach, Rob Paternostro was full of praise for his team.
“We finally got what we deserved! This was a great team effort and I feel so proud of the guys! We believed all the way that we could do this, and this is a great day for the club!”
Earlier in the day, Ireland Superleague Select defeated England 80-83 in a thrilling contest to open proceedings on Cup Final day. Mindaugas Tamausauskas led the scoring for Ireland with 17 points, but Tayo Ogedengbe led all scorers with an impressive 33 point haul for Paul James’s England side in the defeat.
Ukraine star Dmitry ‘Smoove’ Krivenko won the kickz.co.uk BBL Slam Dunk Contest defeating last year’s winner, Nathan Schall of the Manchester Giants.
Story – BBL
Photos – Mike Shaft
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