NEWCASTLE Eagles were dethroned as the kings of British basketball last night as Mersey Tigers stole a dramatic win at crestfallen Sports Central.
After three years of BBL dominance, scooping silverware at will, it all came down to a final two minutes in which the impressive Tigers held their nerve to clinch an incredible 80-75 victory.
The Eagles were not helped by over-officious refereeing that led to key men Fab Flournoy and Darius Defoe fouling out in the final quarter but in they were outdone by Mersey’s greater staying power and the brilliance of their Great Britain international Nate Reinking.
For most of the night it looked like the game was going the other way and when the Eagles entered the fourth quarter in the ascendancy few in a raucous home crowd would have supposed that the tired Tigers would eventually prevail.
But drawing on their reserves of energy they edged the concluding stanza by 26-17 to earn them their first ever league title and leave the Eagles sickened.
In truth it was an error-strewn contest played out between two exhausted teams and while the Eagles deserve credit for keeping the title race alive through a series of sickening injury blows they can have few complaints that the league trophy is heading to the north west.
Seven times these teams have met this season and on five of those occasions the greater scoring power of the Tigers has handed them the victory. For all the heart that the Eagles have shown in these final few weeks, Mersey deserve their moment in the sun.
Issues with the electronic scoreboard meant a delayed tip and probably contributed to a laboured start to the contest.
Some over-officious refereeing hardly helped the flow - Tafari Toney and Darius Defoe both picking up early fouls - but belatedly the contest fired into life in the final few minutes of the quarter.
Wiry pocket rocket Jackson and veteran Charles Smith led the scoring for the Eagles while for the visitors, evergreen Nate Reinking was proving to be simply irresistible. He barely missed a shot in the first quarter to help the Tigers to a slender 22-19 lead.
The Tigers’ greater accuracy from range saw them surge into a ten-point advantage in the early second quarter exchanges but to the delight of an enthusiastic home crowd the Eagles managed to steadily reel them in – going on a ten-point run of their own to level the scores.
A Sullivan lay-up broke the spell but a pair of frees from Smith saw the teams go into the break on level pegging. The Eagles surged into the lead after the interval and when the otherwise excellent Reinking turned the ball over twice to hand straightforward points to Jackson, the momentum was firmly with the champions.
But Reinking atoned for his error by draining a crucial three before a James Jones lay up brought the Tigers to within four of their hosts – and suddenly a resurgent Mersey were right back in it heading into a dramatic final quarter.
The teams continued to trade blows but it was Defoe and Flournoy fouling out with the scores tied that proved the turning point.
Suddenly Reinking was freed up to weave his magic and when he drained a crucial three to open up a four point advantage, the Eagles were chasing the game again. Jackson responded with his own three but when relentless Toney sunk two dunks in quick succession it took the wind from their sails and they could not summon up a response.
EAGLES 75 (Smith 24, Jackson 24, Richards 11)
TIGERS 80 (Reinking 22, Toney 20, Thomson 18)
