NEWCASTLE Eagles’ BBL Championship challenge suffered a setback last night in Liverpool.

At a sparsely-populated Echo Arena, the atmosphere was still tense as the top two in British basketball slugged it out once again, with the Eagles’ nemesis coming back to strike them again.

How they respond to this adversity will determine where they go from here and whether they’ll be able to retain the BBL crown that the organisation so cherishes.

The Tigers are certainly right in the favourites hot-seat now as they knocked the Eagles off their lofty perch.

In truth, the final score shows a game that the Eagles were close to winning but until a frantic last quarter comeback, Newcastle were second best for the vast majority of the game.

In fact t was only their spirit and pride that somehow dragged them back into a game they never looked like winning.

Overzealous officiating played its part too as the visitors certainly seemed to get the worst of the calls and this affected their rhythm and rotations throwing them off step at times.

However, it would be churlish to blames referees for the loss. The analysis will be made and coach Fab Flournoy will move his men on but right now the pain is hurting and hard to take.

Reggie Jackson led the Eagles and had a huge night throughout the 40 minutes but the supporting cast – other than captain Andrew Bridge – played their part a little too late, and proved that the expression too little too late is worthy of the words.

Jackson got off to a good start as did his team but Tigers are resilient and came back strong with both teams showing exactly why they are vying for top spot in the league.

Nate Reinking’s triple on the first quarter buzzer gave the home side the advantage 23–21.

In the second there was nothing to chose between the sides and the lead either way was never more than three points until Reinking inspired his team to a late surge, as they scored the last five points of the half to take a 43–36 advantage in to the locker rooms.

The start of the third was the Eagles undoing as they were held scoreless for over four minutes and despite Tigers not pouring in a ton of points of their own they did enough to stretch their lead as Eagles suffered with foul trouble.

With the final period coming up Tigers led 73–48 and it looked like game over.

However, the Eagles are not a top side for nothing and suddenly Charles Smith and Trey Moore finally found their rhythm and scoring touch to haul their side back into the game.

They somehow managed to drag the game back to within a one-shot possession affair but they just couldn’t get over the line as they had to foul the Tigers.

And the home players held their nerve to make the shots that gave them a huge win and a significant advantage in the race for the BBL title.

MERSEY: Nate Reinking 19, Tafari Toney 15, Andrew Thomson 14

NEWCASTLE: Reggie Jackson 27, Trey Moore 16, Charles Smith 15