UNBELIEVABLE is the only word to describe this Newcastle Eagles team.
For the second day in a row they pulled off an incredible road win to keep their BBL Championship challenge on track.
After being forced into overtime on Saturday night by Worcester, this time they managed to complete the job in regulation. But it wasn’t easy, it never is, and once again Fab Flournoy and his players had to go through the wringer before taking the narrowest of wins.
The result delighted a large travelling support who celebrated wildly on the final buzzer.
Somehow, some way, this Eagles team just seems to find a way to win.
The game may not have satisfied the purists but if heart, commitment, character and spirit count for anything it is in helping an Eagles side that simply does not seem to understand the word defeat.
This was a solid team performance with contributions from top scorer Charles Smith to team manager Eric Wilson – and everyone in between.
Newcastle had five players in double figures with Reggie Jackson, Darius Defoe, new signing Andrew Lasker and skipper Andrew Bridge the other contributors.
Flournoy, Kadiri Richard and Andre Lockhart also played their parts, especially defensively, as the trademark Eagles rearguard won through for the second day in a row.
And despite the long, long travel and being on the road for in excess of 36 hours, they summoned up enough energy to come through in the clutch.
Eagles certainly looked tired early on and perhaps it looked like a game too far as Plymouth’s home court advantage looked to be tipping the scales their way.
Smith was out of synch and the Eagles offense looked flat as Raiders with Jerome Gumbs, Chez Marks and Evaldas Zabas rotating the scoring early on.
Raiders led 20-9 after the first period and even in to the second they still looked comfortable as they moved out to a 19-point advantage at 34–15.
But that’s when the Eagles got started. Inserting Lockhary and Lasker into the game gave them an energy boost and they began to slow the Raiders down.
Slowly but surely they came back and a 16–5 run in the final period of the second quarter narrowed the gap to 39–31 as the teams headed for the locker rooms and the half-time team talks.
Flournoy led the rallying call and the Eagles came out determined but Plymouth made the better start, easing back in to a 12-point lead.
However, Newcastle are made of the right stuff and with Smith finding his range and driven on by all around him, the Eagles clawed their way back and went in to the final period only down 58–54.
The visitors had changed the tempo of the game and were dictating the play.
Plymouth hung on but slowly and surely Eagles managed to nudge ahead. The game came down to the final few seconds with Newcastle just in front.
Bridge nailed two free-throws to push his side into the narrowest of leads and when Defoe came up with his 10th rebound of the game, the Eagles had completed yet another amazing win.
Victory puts them level on points at the top of the BBL table with Mersey Tigers, who visit Sport Central on Wednesday for what could be a title decider.
SCORERS
PLYMOUTH: Jerome Gumbs 19, Chez Marks 15, Evaldas Zabas 15
NEWCASTLE: Charles Smith 21, Reggie Jackson 15, Darius Defoe 13
