Newcastle Eagles 88 Worthing Thunder 87

Nov 27 2010 The Journal

THE hangover from Wednesday’s devastating BBL Cup semi-final exit at Mersey Tigers was still being felt by a disappointing Newcastle Eagles as they somehow snatched a dramatic win against lowly Worthing Thunder.

All night long they struggled badly to put away a brave visiting team many expected the Eagles to beat comfortably.

The only consolation head coach Fab Flournoy will take from the night was the fact a win is a win.

That is ultimately what he got – and two extremely precious BBL points to go along with it.

The Thunder, however, will be scratching their heads as to how in the end they did not pull off a shock win when they had ball in hand at the end of the game.

Their last shot, though, was a poor one and Eagles Joe Chapman snapped up the loose ball as time ran out and the Eagles escaped with a victory they hardly deserved.

Newcastle in the end were grateful for Darius Defoe’s last basket which took him to a team-high 22 points and ultimately was the basket which won the game.

The Eagles played with effort and commitment, but the energy and defence was missing along with a little bit of heart which perhaps had not quite been returned to them after Mersey had ripped it out on Wednesday.

Flournoy will re-group his players again and a two-week rest before their next game will be spent recharging batteries and mending wounds.

It had looked so different in the first ten minutes as Defoe established himself early on in the paint.