Sheffield Sharks 66, Newcastle Eagles 80

Mar 12 2009 by Jeff King, The Journal

THE Newcastle Eagles produced another fabulous road win at Sheffield last night.

The victory keeps Newcastle at the top of the BBL table and is a perfect confidence boost ahead of Sunday’s BBL Trophy final against Guildford Heat.

Eagles coach Fab Flournoy will no doubt be delighted with the win and more importantly, now has four full days to prepare for Sunday’s prestigious showdown.

Not that last night’s was an easy game. After three quarters, only one point separated the sides in what had been a tight game up to that point.

But the Eagles defence went into lockdown mode in the final quarter, as Newcastle eased away from the home town Sharks.

Newcastle were led by the two rookies Reggie Jackson and Tafari Toney, who just seem to be getting better with each passing game. Plus there was Trey Moore, who once again proved a talisman late on.

Moore has now made an astonishing 71 free throws in a row and his five last night helped seal the victory.

The first quarter saw the Sharks open well and an 8-0 run gave them a 12-4 lead. Newcastle hit back with an eight-point burst of their own and the teams were level until Charles Smith’s last two baskets gave the Eagles a 20-17 advantage.

The second was more of the same until a Sharks 12-2 run put them up 34-26. Then Jackson got to work, scoring nine points to help his side close the gap to 38-37 at the half.

There was little in it during the third quarter to separate the sides until the Eagles pulled away slightly at 54-49 before the Sharks came back.

This meant that Newcastle boasted a slender one-point lead going into the last 10 minutes.

It was then that Moore, Jackson and Toney took over. Together they combined for 19 of the Eagles’ 24 final-quarter points.

This helped inspire their team-mates around them and the Sharks were restricted to just 11 points during the same period.

A 9-0 run gave the Eagles the first double-figure lead of the night, and from there they went on to close the game in some stlye to take another very important win.

SHEFFIELD SCORERS: Chris Sanders (18), Matt Gorman (15) and Sherman Rivers (12).

NEWCASTLE SCORERS: Reggie Jackson (18), Tafari Toney (17), Trey Moore (16).