IT certainly wasn't pretty but Newcastle Eagles dug themselves out of a sizeable hole at Cheshire Jets to post their best-ever start to a BBL league season.

In what proved to be a titanic tussle to reach a new standard of five wins from five games, Fab Flournoy and his players overturned a 15-point deficit to stay perfect and subsequently take outright control at the top of the table.

Boosted by the return of playmaker Paul Gause, the Eagles eventually shrugged off a slow start to claw their way back into the game before prevailing in crunch time, undeniably helped by influential home favourite Matt Schneck getting injured ahead of half-time.

Still, it’s never a disaster when a team is playing below par and yet still grinding out results. While it was the kind of performance likely to outwardly irk Flournoy, perhaps inwardly he will have relished his team winning another close battle.

Both teams started the game looking out of sorts offensively and baskets were a rarity.

Jets were looking the more likely team to open up some daylight due to their ability to get easy scores inside and so it proved as they finished the quarter with a flourish to lead 20-14.

Eagles were struggling at both ends of the floor, missing defensive assignments and not getting great looks on offence and the visitors soon trailed by double digits at 30-18 as Jets continued their good work.

However, led by the sharp shooting of Joe Chapman, the Eagles suddenly found their range and nine unanswered points put them back into contention.

But defensively, the away team weren’t able to pick things up and Jets posted a nice 12-0 run of their own to re-establish control with a commanding 15-point lead shortly ahead of the interval.