The Newcastle Eagles recovered from their first defeat of the season to beat the Everton Tigers 98-81 at the MetroRadio Arena on Sunday, in what was a clash of last season's top two teams in the BBL Championship.
Darius Defoe scored 26 points on the night, including twelve in a row in a third quarter spell that put the game beyond the Tigers. Joe Chapman added two three-pointers to Defoe's scores to make it 77-57 and there was no way back for the visitors.
Meanwhile, there were wins for two of the teams nearer the bottom of the BBL Championship.
The PAWS London Capital scored their first win of the season and heaped misery on the Jelson Homes DMU Leicester Riders, beating them by 85-82. That was the Riders' second defeat in consecutive nights and leaves them in mid-table with three wins and three defeats.
Ibrahim Gariba was the hero for the Capital with 30 points, including 6 crucial points in the final minute.
Finally, the Essex Pirates recorded their first road win in the BBL, beating the Worthing Thunder 82-88 on the South Coast. Taner Adu scored 29 points, while Alan Metcalfe made 21. It was a run of 10-0 at the start of the third quarter and 6-0 at the start of the fourth that did the damage.
PAWS London Capital 85-82 Jelson Homes DMU Leicester Riders
PAWS London Capital 85 (21,42,62) (Gariba 30, Knysas 20, Ivanov/Mills 9)
Jelson Homes DMU Leicester Riders 82 (24,36,61) (Johnson 19, Minor 19, Wierzbicki 14)
The PAWS London Capital scored their first win of the BBL season in beating the Jelson Homes DMU Leicester Riders 85-82, heaping further misery on the Riders who have suffered back-to-back defeats this weekend.
The Capital were inspired to the win by Ibrahim Gariba, who had 30 points, 7 rebounds and 4 steals and also made all of the big plays down the stretch. The Riders were led by Jason Johnson with another double-double of 19 points and 11 rebounds.
The teams entered the final minute tied at 79, after the Riders had trailed for much of the game before Bradd Wierzbicki's basket tied it. The last sixty seconds was a shootout between Gariba and Leicester's Tack Minor. They exchanged baskets to see the teams tied at 81 with 23 seconds remaining, before Gariba scored again with 17 seconds left. Minor made 1/2 from the line to make the score 83-82 and the Riders sent Santa Ataha to the line. He missed both, only for Gariba to snatch the rebound and get fouled by Tony Windless. Gariba kept his cool at the line and made two free-throws with 3 seconds left to win the game.
Earlier in the game, which pitted the league's highest scorers (the Riders, 104ppg) against its lowest, the visitors started the game the faster and raced into a 5- 16 lead. The Capital came back to tie the game at 19, but found themselves 22-28 down after the Riders scored five straight points early in the second. The Londoners tied at 28 on a Gariba score, then took the lead at 34-32 before an 8-2 run helped them into a 42- 36 half-time lead.
Newcastle Eagles 98-81 Everton Tigers
Newcastle Eagles 98 (27,50,79) (Defoe 26, Chapman 23, Bridge 16)
Everton Tigers 81 (20,41,62) (Gumbs 20, Jones 14, Larkai 12)
The Newcastle Eagles bounced back from their first defeat of the season by beating the Everton Tigers 98- 81 at the MetroRadio Arena. The game saw last season's top two teams in the BBL Championship, and was a key early-season win for the Eagles.
Darius Defoe led the scoring for the hosts with 26 points and 9 rebounds, while Joe Chapman had 23 and Andrew Bridge scored 16. The Tigers were led by 20 points from Jerome Gumbs.
The Eagles were fast out of the blocks and didn't look back. They raced into a 7-0 lead and led 19-11 after back-to-back triples from Bridge and Chapman; they each scored two three-pointers in the first quarter. Bridge had ten points in the opening stanza as the Eagles led 27-20 after ten minutes.
In the second quarter, the Eagles pushed the lead into double-figures at 36-26 on a pair of Reggie Jackson free-throws, but were pegged back as Gumbs and Flo Larkai combined for five straight points to narrow the gap to 44-39 with two minutes remaining. Chapman made the last two baskets of the half to send the Eagles into the locker room 50-41 in front.
Newcastle's big run came in the fourth quarter as Defoe scored 12 straight points for his team, before Chapman hit another two three-pointers and a field goal, to take them into a 77-57 lead.
The Tigers couldn't get to within ten points in the fourth quarter, as they were condemned to their third defeat of the season. The Eagles remain in second place, just one win behind the Sheffield Sharks and with a game in hand.
Worthing Thunder 82-88 Essex Pirates
Worthing Thunder 82 (18,47,64) (Makalainen 19, Cricelli 17, Zafirov 16)
Essex Pirates 88 (20,41,70) (Adu 29, Metcalfe 21, Rodrigo 14)
The Essex Pirates jumped into the playoff places as they beat the Worthing Thunder 82-88 to record their first road win in the BBL on the South Coast. Taner Adu inspired the victory with 29 points, with Alan Metcalfe scoring 21.
Despite a fast start to the game from the hosts, who led 7-2after Zafirov hit a three-pointer to open the game, it was the Pirates that had the best of the first quarter. They hit the next 6 points to take the lead and stretched it to 13-18 on a Toluwase free-throw. There was limited scoring in the final three minutes as the Pirates led 18-20 after the opening ten minutes.
The Thunder regained the lead early in the second stanza as Zafirov hit five points in a 9-0 burst, and they led 32-26 midway through. A pair of free-throws from Adu and Metcalfe's three-pointer trimmed the deficit to one point. But a 6-0 burst, including four for Makalainen, put the Thunder back in control at 45-37 and they led 47-41 at the break.
The Pirates began to take control immediately in the second half: they opened with the first ten points, including four for Adu, to lead 47-51. They managed to stretch the lead to double-figures, at 60-70, as Adu made a three-pointer with just over a minute remaining.
They opened the fourth in similar fashion, this time scoring the first 6 points to lead 64-76. Despite Makalainen scoring 6 points in a 7-0 run to make the score 71-76, the Pirates kept their hosts at arm's length as Dean Williams made a three-pointer to keep the gap at 10 points at 71-81. From there, Essex were not threatened.
BBL Championship Table
P W L Pts
1 Sheffield Sharks 6 5 1 10
2 Newcastle Eagles 5 4 1 8
3 Cheshire Jets 6 4 2 8
4 Guildford Heat 4 3 1 6
5 Marshall MK Lions 5 3 2 6
6 Jelson Homes DMU Leicester Riders 6 3 3 6
7 Essex Pirates 4 2 2 4
8= Glasgow Rocks 5 2 3 4
8= Worthing Thunder 5 2 3 4
10 Everton Tigers 4 1 3 2
11 PAWS London Capital 4 1 3 2
12 Airwaves Plymouth Raiders 2 0 2 0
13 Worcester Wolves 4 0 4 0
Source: www.bbl.org.uk
