Eagles are one win from title

Apr 6 2009 The Journal

THE Newcastle Eagles moved within one win of retaining their BBL Championship last night after a comfortable victory over Worcester Wolves.

And while a 13-point margin does not sound a lot, it was only a late flurry from the Wolves when the game was dead that made the scoreline look slightly respectable.

The Eagles dominated throughout and once again had five players in double figures, led by the back-court duo of Reggie Jackson and Trey Moore. “Prince” Charles Smith put in another solid performance, Tafari Toney a double-double, including a huge 17 rebounds, and fellow forward Darius Defoe also chipped in.

So a win this coming Friday in the Metro Radio Arena over fierce rivals Scottish Rocks and it will be celebration time as an 11th national trophy in five seasons and back-to-back league titles will be notched up on the Eagles’ and head coach Fab Flournoy’s resumés.

A Jackson triple got Newcastle and the game under way and they were never behind at any stage in the 40 minutes. Jackson tripled again, as did Moore, and an 11-2 Eagles start gave Worcester a mountainous task.

Jackson and Moore were red-hot in the first period, combining for 26 of their side’s 37 points, which included Jackson hitting four triples on his way to 16 points, Moore two and even Smith hit one as the Eagles had a 17-point lead going in to the second quarter.

In the second period, Wolves did at least begin to put up a fight but Eagles went in 53-41 at the break. The Champions-elect then produced a 6–2 start to the second half. However, the visitors reduced the gap to just 10 points at 65-55. The Eagles produced a 10-1 burst that virtually made the game safe.

Going into the final stanza, they led 75-59 and were now back in the zone. Flournoy asked for one last effort and his troops answered the call to stretch out the lead to 93-71 on Smith’s final basket of the game and make the game safe despite the late rally by the Wolves. The one-time league leaders Rocks come to Newcastle this week on the back of an eight-game losing streak. It would appear that provided Flournoy can keep his team’s feet on the ground, then the Eagles will clinch the league title in front of their faithful fans on what would be a very Good Friday.

NEWCASTLE SCORERS: Reggie Jackson23, Trey Moore 18, Charles Smith 16

WORCESTER SCORERS: Justin Brown 18, Harry Disy 16, Doug Tshomba 16