FOURTEEN points down at the half, it looked all over for Newcastle Eagles but they battled back magnificently to secure victory.
Acting head coach Dave Forrester called it his “greatest sporting achievement.” There’s no doubting Eagles supporters would agree with him – and they will remember this win for a long time.
Heart and soul, total commitment, extraordinary will and desire – the players and coaching staff had it all as they refused to accept defeat and came up with a stunning victory to remain at the top of the BBL table.
Still missing Fab Flournoy, who was at home resting from his recent serious illness, the Eagles were also without star shooting guard Joe Chapman, who has been ruled out for the season with the injury he picked up in Friday night’s victory over Cheshire.
The seven-man roster stepped up their game and shot down a bewildered Rocks side. Veterans Charles Smith and Trey Moore may take all the plaudits, with 29 and 28 points respectively, every player deserves credit.
Darius Defoe had a huge double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds and skipper Andrew Bridge ran himself ragged for 40 full minutes. There were also significant contributions from Andre Lockhart, Kadiri Richard and Aaron Neilsen too.
Without Flournoy and Chapman, the Eagles still managed to play lockdown defence in the second-half restricting their hosts to only 26 points in 20 minutes.
Rocks simply had no answer and with Defoe pounding them inside and the whole side standing up to be counted, the win was achieved. Eagles made the more impressive start and led 11-4 with Smith netting all 11 but Rocks hit back hard and with Nick Livas and Mose Mubarak knocking down some crucial baskets, they led 28-23 after the first.
Michael Kingma came off the bench to good effect in the second quarter and with player-coach Sterling Davis playing his usual solid game, Rocks dominated the period to lead 50-36 at the half.
Forrester sat his players down and with all the senior players firing each other up, they produced an astonishing turnaround in the second half. Moore got to work and proved unstoppable, and with the defence locked down solid, Eagles won the third 19-15 and then humbled the home side 22-11 in the final period.
Talks will take place to see if Eagles need another player to fill Chapman’s boots and keep the momentum going but if anyone does come in, they’ll need to show they deserve to be included in a roster that is the pride of Tyneside.
GLASGOW: Nick Livas 20, Michael Kingma 15, Sterling Davis 11
NEWCASTLE: Charles Smith 29, Trey Moore 28, Darius Defoe 15
