Fabulous Night For Fab And For The Giants

Esh Group Eagles Newcastle got their first win of the campaign on Sunday with a 99-73 victory away at local rivals Durham Wildcats.

Darius Defoe led the way for Eagles with 27 points in 27 minutes and player-coach Fab Flournoy reached 4,000 career points in the BBL with his only basket of the game.

“It’s a nice number to get but it was more important to me that we were able to come out with a victory,” he said afterwards.

Having beaten Sheffield Sharks in their home opener last weekend, Manchester Giants made it two wins in a row thanks to a 93-83 win over Worcester Wolves.

David Watts led the way against his former club with 19 points, while Ben Eaves had an impressive double-double of 18 points and 10 rebounds, as the Giants kept the Wolves to just 32 points in the second half.

“We stepped it up defensively, especially in the last five minutes of the first half,” said Giants coach Jeff Jones.

“In the second, we were really good defensively, which isn’t what we’re definitely known for, so it was pleasing that we did a really good job.”

The Wolves did manage a win from the weekend, with an 83-67 victory over Cheshire Phoenix in Friday’s BBL TV game, Robert Thurman leading the way with 22 points and 14 rebounds.

The Phoenix picked up their first win of the season on Sunday, handing Leeds Force a 66-48 defeat behind 18 points from David Aliu.

It was the second loss of the weekend for Leeds, who had been beaten 77-57 at home by Glasgow Rocks on Friday evening. After trailing 36-29 at the break, Rocks outscored the Force 48-21 in the second half, led by Tayo Ogedengbe’s 29 points.

But the Rocks could not make it two wins in a row after they lost 97-76 at Surrey United on Saturday. Lavione West’s 20 points led a balanced Surrey attack as the hosts blew the game open in the second half.

After losing their first two games, United coach Jack Majewski was pleased to have got a win at the third attempt.

“I think it was long overdue,” he said.

“Last week we were so upset with ourselves; we were simply terrible.”

He added, “I think against Glasgow we scratched the surface of our potential because we can be very versatile as a team.”

London Lions brought Bristol Flyers’ unbeaten start to an end, but only after a hard-fought game at the Copper Box Arena. Bristol’s Doug Herring led all scorers with 19 points, while Drew Sullivan led the hosts with 18, who now sit joint-top of the BBL Championship with Leicester Riders.

Finally, Sheffield Sharks got back to winning ways with a 79-55 win over Plymouth University Raiders. The Sharks pretty much controlled this game from the off and were led to victory by a game-high 17 points from BJ Holmes.

Story – BBL