Newcastle Eagles 88, Cheshire Jets 83
Apr 25 2009 by Jeff King, The Journal
THE Newcastle Eagles are through to the final four weekend at Birmingham with a chance to land the Play-Off Trophy to go alongside the BBL Trophy and Championship they’ve already won this season.
It was closer than many people thought as the underdogs, Cheshire Jets, took the Eagles right down to the wire. But, in the end Newcastle just had enough to get over the line and now they have a great chance to finish the season in style next week in the play-off finals.
While talisman Trey Moore led the Eagles home down the stretch, it was once again an all-round team effort, as it has been all season, that was the key to the win and the reason why the country’s top basketball team get the chance to prove that fact and bring further glory and silverware back to Tyneside.
Moore’s back-court partner Reggie Jackson was also well to the fore and Tafari "Tap" Toney celebrated his call-up to the GB national side training camp by bringing his presence to bear inside. Add in the contributions of skipper Andrew Bridge and veteran Charles Smith and you have a formula mixed for success.
It was Toney whose confidence is sky- high at present who got the Eagles on the board with the first bucket of the game but the Jets slip into gear the quicker and Philip Perre’s triple gave them an early 13-6 lead. Eagles worked hard to close the gap and Jackson’s triple at the end of the quarter brought them back within one at 22-21.
The second saw coach Fab Flournoy’s men open in fine style. They increased their defensive intensity to such an extent that Cheshire could only manage two points in the first six-and-a-half minutes of the second period. In the same time span Newcastle poured in 16-points of their own to take their largest lead of the night at 37-24.
