Groundhog Day in Newcastle

Newcastle Eagles 87 Leicester Riders 79
BBL Championship Friday 16th March 2012

The was no sign of Punxsutawney Phil at Sport Central last night but this groundhog day battle between two of the BBL heavyweights looks like heralding a spring to remember for the league leaders. In the midst of unseasonably warm weather in Newcastle, the visitors felt the heat as the Eagles dominated the early stages pulling away at 23-14 as the first quarter closed with a Joe Chapman 3-point buzzer beater. The Eagles machine continued to roll well into the second period and the lead peaked at 32-16 on the back of another Chapman basket.

Rob Paternostro’s teams don’t roll over and die and his troops, inspired by talented BBL rookie Cameron Rundles, ground down the home side with a 16-2 run that strangled the life out of the previously potent Eagles offense. The teams entered the locker room with Newcastle holding a slender 44-41 lead yet the momentum was with the Riders.

Neither side gave an inch in a fiercely contested third quarter as baskets were traded to leave the game finely balanced at 66-62. It was the visitors who seized the initiative in the final stanza, ignited by two stunning 3 point shots from last week’s villain Yorick Williams and outstanding work from Rundles and Hardy to lead 77-72 with 5 minutes on the clock.

The Riders surge not only affected the scoreline but it lifted the atmosphere inside Sport Central to fever pitch and the League leaders responded in dramatic fashion. Big steals from Charles Smith and Paul Gause and a Joe Chapman fired offense symbolised the will to win that has been the trademark of the Eagles fantastic season. Their superb finish had the Riders visibly wilting and will leave them in great heart for the Trophy Final first leg in Plymouth on Sunday.

Riders may have lost in Newcastle again but Cameron Rundles was a man who didn’t deserve to be on a losing side. Smiling as ever despite the defeat, Cameron was disappointed but felt his side didn’t do quite enough to win the game. “We battled but at the end of the day we didn’t make plays down the stretch.”

We’ve got a couple of guys who used to play here, Drew Sullivan and Tom Sherlock. These guys are familiar with Newcastle, Yorick’s a veteran. We’re battling but we’re not on the level that Newcastle is yet. Until we can play that way for 40 minutes instead of 30 plus minutes we won’t get it done. We need to play for the full game.

With Leicester now four games back on Newcastle, Cameron was prepared to concede that the Championship was now beyond the Riders “Yeah, give them the title. They’re winning everything else! We’re trying to make a push in the playoffs.”

Star man with 30 points and another inspirational performance Eagles’ Joe Chapman was glowing, fresh from the heat of combat, “It was a great game, like March Madness with the same kind of atmosphere. We just had to go out and play hard. They came out with a great gameplan with 1-3-1 and we weren’t used to that. Both teams played hard, it was aggressive and we needed that to get ready for the Final.”

On another dominant personal performance, “I’m motivated when I see what other people write about who’s getting MVPs. Not just me but it also motivates other players on our team. We’ve got the best team so I don’t see why we don’t get the accolades for it.”

Joe continued, “Leicester have got the same type of players and gameplan as Plymouth. There was also a Final type of atmosphere here tonight so it was the perfect preparation for Sunday. The atmosphere is one of best in the BBL and it means that the opposition always plays a little bit stronger which is great for us as we’ve always got to be on our A-game so that’s a positive for us!”