Everton Tigers 79, Newcastle Eagles 90

Mar 30 2009 by Jeff King, The Journal

LEAGUE titles are not won in March but yesterday at the Liverpool Echo Arena Newcastle Eagles took a huge step towards retaining theirs.

A great defensive performance added to an all-round team effort was the catalyst to a great road win.

Rookie Reggie Jackson seems to be growing in stature with each game and his back court partner Trey Moore was also in fine form. But while these two might grab the headlines it was a team performance and everyone contributed.

Jackson, in particular, got better and better as the game wore on and his play in the final quarter was what saw his side home. Great support also came from Darius Defoe and veteran Charles Smith as Newcastle confirmed their status as the country’s number one basketball team.

Everton’s Andre Smith started the afternoon scoring but his first points of the game were made at the last time his side would lead. Eagles responded with an 8-0 run and were never headed again.

Moore had 10 points in the first quarter as at one point the Eagles led 24-12, another 11-0 burst included in that run.