BBL Championship starts with wins for Newcastle Eagles and Cheshire Phoenix
Newcastle overcome London Lions 88-79 after Cheshire bounce back from a winless BBL Cup campaign to beat the B. Braun Sheffield Sharks in double-header at the Eagles Community Arena
Friday 4 December 2020 09:48, UK
Newcastle Eagles and Cheshire Phoenix opened the BBL Championship season with victories on Thursday night.
Two of the early favourites went head to head in the opening night's headline attraction as Newcastle finally got the better of London Lions thanks to a huge fourth-quarter display, American forward Justin Gordon led the way with a big double-double of 26 points and 11 rebounds.
Neither team led by more than two shots until the final six minutes when two-time BBL MVP Rahmon Fletcher took over and the Eagles' 33 fourth-quarter points proved enough to secure a nine-point victory.
With Newcastle holding a narrow lead, Fletcher scored all nine points in a 9-2 burst - hitting a pair of three-pointers and making an 'and-one' play for a score of 71-61 that broke the Lions challenge.
Fletcher finished with 22 points and nine rebounds while Evan Maxwell added another nine late points for the Eagles, who got their season off to the perfect start.
In the Championship game tip-off earlier in the evening, Cheshire produced a much-improved return on their previous BBL campaign where they lost all four games to start with a 93-83 win over B. Braun Sheffield Sharks.
Big first and fourth quarters got the job done with 7ft American debutant Jimbo Lull starting in style thanks to a 27-point haul.
Lull set the tone with a huge baseline dunk on his way to 12 first-quarter points as Phoenix forged an early double-figure advantage.
But the Sharks gradually hauled themselves back into the game and having chipped away at Cheshire's early lead, managed to get themselves in front heading into the final quarter.
After Lull's early star showing it was the turn of another off-season recruit, Mike McCall Jr., to turn things around for the Phoenix. A mid-quarter run of 12 unanswered points from Cheshire helped them into a 14-point lead with McCall's three-pointer rounding off the run.
That lead proved too much for the Eagles, who sit top of their Cup group after four wins from their six games, to run down and it was Chesire who eased their way to a 10-point victory to start the season in style.
Both teams are back in action over the weekend as the season continues with a bumper round of matches, while the live action continues on Sky Sports next week when London host Plymouth at the Copper Box on Friday night.
Sky Sports is the home of basketball in the UK and Ireland with the BBL complemented by exclusively live coverage of the NBA and WNBA on the channel. Clips, highlights and best-of content can be found on skysports.com, YouTube and Sky Sports' social media platforms.
