BBL: Eagles tame Tigers
Newcastle Eagles maintained their unbeaten start to the BBL Championship season with a 94-80 win at title holders Mersey Tigers.
Last Updated: 10/12/11 12:43pm
Mersey Tigers 80 (15,31,53) (Aliu 19, Hesson 16, Davis/Bailey 13) Newcastle Eagles 94 (27,45,70) (Defoe 31, Chapman 18, Gause 14)
Newcastle Eagles maintained their unbeaten start to the BBL Championship season with a 94-80 win at the current title holders Mersey Tigers.
The two clubs battled it out for league honours last year but there was only going to be one winner in this one after a red-hot start by Newcastle saw them open up an early 10-point lead.
Darius Defoe was unstoppable in the paint with 31 points and 18 rebounds to lead Eagles to victory.
The Eagles are notoriously fast starters and against last season's triple trophy winners they were standing by that reputation. A Defoe two made it a 10-point game at 17-7 as the first quarter ended with Eagles holding a 27-15 advantage.
Tigers reduced the deficit early in the second quarter with a 5-0 run, but the rest of the half belonged to the visitors. Paul Gause put Eagles 38-24 up and the margin was still the same at the interval (45-31) as Newcastle ended the half on a 7-2 tear.
There was no let up at either end of the court by Newcastle after the break. Two from the charity stripe by Charles Smith ended an 11-3 run, which gave Fab Flournoy's team a 56-34 lead.
It was their biggest margin of the quarter as Tigers slowly reduced the deficit to 70-53 heading into the final stanza.
Overpower
Newcastle never let their lead slip below the eventual finishing margin of 14 throughout the fourth quarter to make it eight wins from eight BBL Championship matches so far this season.
Prestige Homes MK Lions 87 (16,46,66) (Bolds 37, Crawford 15, Northern 14) Durham Wildcats 74 (27,42,59) (Capocci 22, Bucci 15, P Elderkin 12)
Prestige Homes MK Lions responded from a large early deficit to eventually pick up a comfortable home victory against Durham Wildcats.
Demarius Bolds was in top form with a game-high 37 points to pace the offence as Lions took control in the second quarter to overpower the BBL new boys.
The Wildcats were quick to build up a big lead as two Mike Capocci free throws made it 21-7 after five minutes. The visitors maintained a healthy advantage up to the first break as they led 27-16 after 10 minutes.
Milton Keynes came storming back in the second quarter. Daniel Northern scored the first points of the period as Mike New's team began to close the gap.
A 10-0 burst, capped by a Demarius Bolds three, by Lions made it 41-36 before Mark Elderkin stopped the rot from the line. By half time Wildcats trailed 46-42.
The Lions kept building on their good play and when Carl Josey put them up 59-49 it seemed as though they had broken the Durham resistance. However, the Wildcats trimmed the lead to 59-55 on Paul Elderkin's three.
Bolds had the last word of the quarter. His triple with five seconds remaining in the period gave the home team a 66-59 advantage.
A Capocci two brought Durham back to six (72-66) with six minutes to play but Lions dominated thereafter as Bolds, Northern and Howard Crawford scored frequently to make it 83-66 and stifle any hopes of a Wildcats fightback.
