IT’S game on at Sport Central tomoorow night after a magnificent game of basketball ended – unusually for the sport – in a tied game after 40 pulsating minutes.
That neither side was able to gain an advantage to take in to the BBL Trophy semi-final second leg only whets the appetite more for what should be a tasty feast for all ball fans.
Both the Mersey Tigers and Newcastle Eagles deserve tremendous praise for the way they slugged it out in last night’s epic encounter. And for once there was no overtime played as with a second leg to decide the semi-final and who goes through to face the Guildford Heat, this is the only time a basketball game can be left undecided.
Going in to the semi-final many had predicted Newcastle’s magnificent recent run gave them the edge but in Mersey Tigers there is a team that justified their billing as one of the BBL’s finest and best. That the Eagles matched them shows exactly how good they are too.
Perhaps the real shame is that these two sides continually meet in semi-finals when they would both grace a final arena and give British basketball a huge game to promote the sport.
But that’s for another time and last night’s clash boasted some high-intensity basketball right from the off with the returning Nate Reinking helping the Tigers in to an early lead, only for the visiting Eagles to hit back straight away.
The usual suspects Joe Chapman, Trey Moore and Charles Smith were quickly into their stride and with Darius Defoe and Kadiri Richard doing a great job inside, Newcastle turned the game around and established a ten-point lead at 26–16.
However, the Tigers and Reinking managed to score the last four points of the quarter to pull it back to 26–20.
The Tigers continued that comeback in the second to edge in front at 28–26. Smith hit a triple for Newcastle to help his side get back to a 41–34 advantage before the Tigers came with a great burst.
A 16–4 run to the half-time buzzer saw them take a 50–45 advantage in to the locker rooms. The Eagles, though, were not disheartened and in a fabulous display of defensive basketball, somehow managed to restrict Tigers to only four points in the third quarter and with 19 of their own, sneaked back in front 64–54.
Ex-Eagle Drew Sullivan opened the final stanza strong for Tigers and his side gradually whittled away at Newcastle’s lead. Wiith the foul count mounting against them Eagles went slightly astray but Fab Flournoy called a time-out and regrouped his troops again.
Mersey had managed to take an 82–80 lead as the clock wound down. Eagles had one play left and Chapman drove hard to the basket and dropped in the two points that made him the game’s highest scorer – and tied the two teams together as the buzzer went.
So, both teams have to rest aching bodies, draw in big breaths and do it all again tomorrow night.
This is a game not to be missed on the evidence of last night – and even the hardiest gambler would be hard pressed to decide where to put his money.
TIGERS: Nate Reinking 20, Drew Sullivan 18, Tafari Toney & Andy Thomson 12
EAGLES: Joe Chapman 22, Charles Smith 16, Trey Moore 15
