Eagles win an epic encounter

Oct 11 2007 By Jeff King, The Journal

Scottish Rocks 110, Newcastle Eagles 117

FIERCE rivals Scottish Rocks and Newcastle Eagles last night put on a fabulous display that did British basketball proud at Braehead, with Eagles eventually triumphing.

After 50 minutes and two periods of overtime it was the Eagles who took the BBL points back home over the Border with a tremendous 117-110 win.

Great Britain point guard Richard Midgley was the Eagles star performer on a night when coach Fab Flournoy’s men had to dig deep to come up with the goods.

Midgley’s 34-point haul included six, three-point efforts and he also scored the last seven points of the game to break open the tie and seal the victory.

Not that he was alone. Jeremy Hyatt supported him with 24 points that included a buzzer-beating three-point effort that took the game into a second period of overtime to set up Midgley’s glory run in the final five minutes.

In a game that ebbed and flowed, no team led by more seven all night. The Rocks took the first quarter 22-19 but the Eagles came back in the second to lead 50-48 at the half.

Another tight third period saw Eagles just shade it to stretch their lead to four at 76-72. The game had been a feast of scoring but it was not over yet.

After Rocks fought back to lead by one, Eagles had a 10-2 run that gave them a seven point advantage with less than two minutes to play.

It was still three points until two seconds from time when Rocks’ Maurice Hampton got free to level the scores and force overtime. Rocks then looked the likely winners and with the clock ticking down again led by three. But they reckoned without the Eagles spirit and Hyatt’s shooting as he nailed the basket that set the game into the final five minutes in which Newcastle prevailed.

A great win against one of their closest rivals on the road has given Flournoy’s men a real platform for the season to take off. With a tough weekend trip to Leicester and Plymouth, it was the perfect confidence booster to boot.

Newcastle Eagles: Richard Midgley 34, Jeremy Hyatt 24, Lynard Stewart 15.