QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“It’s obviously an important game at the top and we hope to be back to full strength.
Obviously Leicester will have Mike Black available, which will give us a new guy to focus
on and may change the dynamic of the game slightly.

I am happy with the way we have bounced back since the Final but in reality, the next 4 weeks will make or
break whether we can realistically challenge for the BBL Championship this year.”

Fab FLOURNOY

NEWCASTLE EAGLES PLAYER-COACH

January ended with two huge clashes at the summit of the BBL Championship table as four of the top five faced each other, ending the night separated by only five points, with three of them now in joint-second in the table.

Esh Group Eagles Newcastle avenged their BBL Cup Final defeat to the Leicester Riders with an 86-84 win as a late fight back was inspired by Darius Defoe, who scored the winning basket on his way to 24 points on the night.

Elsewhere, One Health Sharks Sheffield joined those two teams in second after beating London Lions 96-93 in overtime, furthering the gap between the top four and the Lions in the process. Demetrius Jemison led the Sharks with 20 points, including nine in overtime.

With just one win between them all season the first meeting of Birmingham Knights and Surrey United was always likely to provide interest across the BBL. And the match turned out to be one to remember for Surrey as they doubled their win tally with an 89-80 victory in the West Midlands.

Debutant Isaiah Tate scored 24 points for United who used a big third quarter to build a ten point lead from which they wouldn’t look back.

In the night’s other match Durham Wildcats showed Knights and Surrey that growing pains in the BBL are worth it after a superb 95-79 victory at champions Leicester Riders. Kirk Crecco was in fantastic form for Durham, who are in their third season in the top flight, as he poured in 28 points.

Leading 65-64 with one quarter to play the Wildcats went on a 17-0 run late in the final stanza to seal another impressive road win.

On a decisive Sunday night of BBL action, Worcester Wolves made it into the quarter-finals of the BBL Trophy after Zaire Taylor propelled them to an 82-73 success at London Lions. The Molten BBL Player of the Month for December continued his good form with 25 points, six assists and four steals at the Copper Box Arena on the Olympic Park.

There was also a huge win for Manchester Giants as they injected life into their play-off prospects with a convincing 88-72 success against Durham Wildcats. Backcourt duo James Jones and Stefan Gill did the damage, with the former scoring 15 points and accumulating a tremendous nine assists, whilst Gill had an eye-catching and efficient 16 points.

Cheshire Phoenix proved unstoppable at the Emirates Arena as they raced into an early lead and never looked back to crush Glasgow Rocks 97-74 on the road. Dominique Coleman buried a mesmerising eight triples to harvest 30 points and there were double-doubles for Donatas Visockis and Victor Moses, with Reggie Middleton adding 18 points and nine assists. The victory lifts the north-west club up into sixth spot.