Super Eagles land their third trophy

May 4 2009 by Mark Douglas, The Journal

FAB Flournoy’s class of 2009 provided more compelling evidence that they are the best BBL team in history after emerging from a breathless weekend in Birmingham with their third trophy of the season.

A nail-biting 87-84 win over the Everton Tigers sealed play-off glory for Flournoy’s mixture of rookie tyros and experienced heads, who have developed into an all-conquering outfit after some early season teething troubles.

Just as they had in their Trophy and league campaigns, the Eagles peaked at the right time at the National Indoor Arena to atone for the mistakes made at the same venue 12 months ago.

The final’s MVP Trey Moore provided a cool head, Reggie Jackson lived up to his nickname ‘action’, Tap Toney was outstanding and Darius Defoe – the quiet man of the team – stepped up when he was needed. Added to the contributions of Andrew Bridge and Flournoy himself, it makes for a heady mix – and it is obvious why Eagles chief Paul Blake will be desperately trying to keep the roster together working within the remit of a tight budget over the summer months. Flournoy certainly believes the team has the potential to continue their dominance of British basketball over the next months and years.

“This season has been great. We’ve got a fantastic group of guys who did everything that I asked,” he said.

“After we went out of the Cup, we went on a huge learning curve. We do have talented players but we’re there for one another, we talk to one other and when we need to get on one another we do that too.

“The season overall, I think it was meant to be that we won three trophies rather than four. Because we learned so much after going out of the Cup, so maybe that was meant to be. And they deserve it – they’re a great set of people. I know people will talk about a clean sweep next year but I’ll let the guys celebrate tonight because we haven’t really done that after winning the other trophies.”

After brushing aside the Plymouth Raiders with a crushing 93-71 victory in Saturday’s semi-final, the Eagles were always going to face a more difficult task against an Everton side that ran them close in the league.

Not that any observers would have known that after a first quarter that must rank as some of the best basketball ever played by a Newcastle side.

The Eagles blitzed the Tigers in the early minutes – strong, determined defence dovetailing with quick, accurate attack to hand Flournoy’s men a daunting 36-17 lead.

The Merseysiders came back into the game and, combined with a few questionable calls by the officials, the Eagles’ lead was worn down and they looked vulnerable in the closing minutes.

Great Britain international Richard Midgley, who played for the Eagles last season, was prolific – notching 36 points to bring the Tigers to within three points with just seconds remaining.

But he missed his opportunity to send the game into over-time at the death, seeing the ball clatter off the backboard to confirm the Eagles’ third piece of silverware of the season.

Flournoy ran the gamut of emotions during a high-octane weekend and, surprisingly for the New Yorker notorious for his high standards, had just one complaint at the final buzzer.

“There was no champagne for us to celebrate with at the end!” he said.

“It was a real rollercoaster game but we’re all thoroughly excited about it. The first quarter was brilliant, we got on a run. But we always knew Everton would come back strong after our start and I’m not going to comment on some of the late officiating. It got a little bit dubious towards the end.

“They ended up playing with nothing to lose – they were so far out of reach that they just played with a different type of confidence and the momentum just switched.”