Guildford Heat 96, Newcastle Eagles 100
Apr 20 2009 by Jeff King, The Journal
THE Newcastle Eagles won a thrilling BBL game in Guilford last night.
It was a game that was supposedly unimportant for coach Fab Flournoy and his team, but you would not have known that during a pulsating 40 minutes.
With the Eagles only one game away from the play-offs, Flournoy called for a committed performance to set his side up for that next challenge.
That was exactly what he got as his side, despite being without the injured Regi Jackson and Lynard Stewart, recorded a great win on the road.
The win also had some significance for the final league placings as it meant Guilford dropped to fourth, pushing Leicester Riders up to third behind the Eagles and Everton Tigers.
The cornerstone of last night’s win was a vintage offensive display from Charles Smith and ice-cool free throws at the end of the game from Trey Moore.
With Jackson missing, local youngster Aaron Neilsen was handed a surprise starting position. Team-mates Flournoy (pictured right) and Andrew Bridge hit early triples to put Newcastle 8-6 up.
Heat came back to lead by three but a 10-0 Eagles run put them back in front by five. Smith then entered the game just as the heat had edged in front and his triple at the end of the corner gave Newcastle a 25-21 lead. The Heat came back strongly and took the lead at 31-30. Bridge doused that lead with a triple of his own to spark his side to a 10-2 burst that took them back in front and they were never behind again. Flournoy and Smith combined for the last five points of the half to take their side in at the break 55-47 up.
