ANOTHER magnificent performance last night at Sport Central saw the Eagles make it eight wins in a row and consolidate their Championship challenge.

Once again the Three Amigos Charles Smith, Joe Chapman led the way in scoring but it wasn’t just about those three.

All Fab Flournoy’s men contributed with Kadiri Richard having a massive double-double of 10 pts and 14 rebounds whilst his front-court partner Darius Defoe also notched up 12 rebounds as Newcastle completely dominated at both ends of the floor especially on the boards.

There’s no doubting the reigning BBL Champions are in red-hot form at present and all that extra work in the gym and on the practice court is reaping benefits as they continue to show great intensity, superb hustle and excellent fitness which opposition teams are struggling to live with.

The Eagles fans are certainly responding to their favourites too and thoroughly enjoyed their night at Sport Central where Newcastle remain unbeaten and are turning their home court in to some fortress at present. However, the trick now is to keep their feet on the ground, remain focused and continue to build on this excellent run.

Once again the home side virtually had the game won by the end of the first quarter. After Leicester and Ryan Zamroz made a confident start and led early, Moore pulled the Eagles together and got his side going scoring and creating and Smith also began stroking the long ball home with ease. Newcastle led 35-19 after the first ten minutes and continued their irresistible start in to the early going of the second stretching the lead to 24 pts at one stage being 45-21 in front. The effort and intensity they had put in to that early effort showed towards half-time and Riders did manage to level the quarter but were still 55-39 down as the teams went to the locker rooms.

Flournoy demanded another big effort from his men to kill off the visitors early in the second half and that was what he got. Smith knocked down three triples in a row and with Eagles playing mean, tight defence Leicester simply had no answer to Newcastle’s power and went in to the final period 84-63 in arrears.

Newcastle continued to dominate as Leicester fell completely apart in the final period virtually throwing in the towel as The Men in Black continued to pour it on. Flournoy went to his bench subbing all his starters and high scorers out of the game with Smith getting a standing ovation for his efforts in particular. The change in personnel hardly made a difference and indeed the gap widened even further and the exclamation point was added when Flournoy himself drove to the basket, dropped off a lovely pass to 17-year old Ross Wilson who dropped in the final two points of the night to complete a great night’s work and a comprehensive rout of a bedraggled opposition.

So, Newcastle continue to impress and look sharp. They need to keep this pressure up as they have a big date next at Sports Central with Mersey Tigers the next visitors on Friday 28th January in the BBL Trophy Semi-Final second leg with first leg two nights earlier in Liverpool.

In this kind of form Newcastle will be looking to knock out their biggest rivals and make yet another BBL Trophy final.

NEWCASTLE : Charles Smith 36, Joe Chapman 22, Trey Moore 19

LEICESTER:; Ryan Zamorz 20, J. R. Blount 15, Jo Harris 14