QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“London are still coming together as a team having made some changes, but have had some excellent results in the last few weeks and will undoubtedly benefit from Rod Brown returning from injury.”

FAB FLOURNOY

EAGLES’ HEAD COACH

Esh Group Eagles Newcastle are through to their fourth consecutive BBL Cup Final after defeating Sheffield Sharks 85-76 in the semi-final second leg at Sport Central, to secure a double-digit aggregate win (162-151).

The Eagles will be looking to regain the title that they last won in 2012 when they contest the final at the NIA in Birmingham in the New Year, having lost both of the two previous finals.

They will meet either Bristol Flyers or Glasgow Rocks, with the latter having the edge in the other semi-final after winning Friday’s first leg 75-77 in their first BBL game in Bristol. The Rocks scored the last six points of a very tight game, setting up a tense second leg on Sunday at the Emirates Arena, live on BBL TV.

Meanwhile, in the BBL Championship, Worcester Wolves capitalised on the fact that Newcastle were not in league action as an 85-80 defeat of Manchester Giants kept up the pressure at the summit of the BBL Championship table.

At the other end of the table, Leeds Force are off the bottom after beating Durham Wildcats 81-70, sealing the head-to-head between the teams as Branimir Mikulic posted a double-double of 21 points and 12 rebounds.

Surrey United are no longer at the bottom of the BBL Championship table, after taking a 76-65 victory against the visiting Leeds Force at the Surrey Sports Park on Saturday evening. The win puts the Surrey side at a 3-10 mark, while now last-placed Force are 3-12.

The first half belonged to the visitors, who enjoyed being ahead for the better part of the first two quarters and led 36-29 heading into the halftime break. However, the script flipped completely in the second part of the game, with United starting the quarter with a 12-2 run and taking a three-point lead on a Kirk Crecco three at 41-38 four minutes into the third quarter.

Having entered the final frame with the same three point margin at 54-51, Surrey blew the lid off the game with three straight triples by Kirk Crecco, Anthony Downing and Patrick Manifold to begin the quarter. In a space of 80 seconds, United built a solid 63-51 advantage and held on to the lead in a rather anticlimactic end of the game.

Downing led all scorers with 20 points and also had seven assists and five rebounds, Crecco chipped in with 15 points, while Kramer Knutson was one rebound short of a double-double having finished with 14 points and nine boards.

William Hall, Branimir Mikulic and Armando Anebo all finished with 13 points a piece for Force.

Glasgow Rocks had no mercy in the second leg of the BBL Cup semi-final tie, as they thumped the visiting Bristol Flyers to book a trip to the BBL Cup Final in Birmingham.

Elsewhere, Esh Group Eagles Newcastle and Cheshire Phoenix extended their winning streaks in the BBL Championship, while Sheffield Sharks erased a 16-point deficit to defeat Durham Wildcats.

Having won the first leg of the BBL Cup semi-final by two points on the road in Bristol, Rocks left nothing to chance, running away early and routing Flyers 84-57 the second time round to win by 29 points on aggregate.

Meanwhile, Eagles, who had secured BBL Cup Final berth previously, made it 12 wins in a row in the BBL Championship after registering a 99-82 win against London Lions. Charles Smith came off the bench to score a game-high 27 points for Newcastle.

Phoenix handed Worcester Wolves only their third loss of the season, defeating the visitors 97-86 at the Northgate Arena to make it seven wins on the trot in the BBL Championship. Taylor King scored 27 points for Cheshire, while Alex Owumi had 30 for Wolves.

Sharks notched up an important win in Newton Aycliffe, coming back from a 16-point first-half deficit to upset Wildcats 65-63. John Barber finished the game with 21 points of the bench for Sheffield, while Christopher Jones collected 17 in a losing effort for Durham.