BBL Preview: Eagles at Phoenix – 29 September 2013
The new look Esh Group Eagles Newcastle travel to Cheshire with two BBL Championship points already under their belts thanks to a victory over local rivals, Durham Wildcats on Friday night. The contest was closer than many observers expected as the home side’s 15 point half point lead all but disappeared before the Eagles rallied to an 85-78 win.
Ex-Notre Dame captain Scott Martin made an impressive start to his BBL campaign as did fellow debutant and fans’ MVP Malik Cooke but it was Eagles’ evergreen big man Darius Defoe who was the most dominant performer. Player coach Fab Flournoy sat out the game with a knock and may miss out yet again but he will be hoping to see returnees Paul Gause and Drew Lasker provide a similar spark to their first spells at the club.
Tonight’s game is in fact the 100th competitive meeting of these two franchises; the first encounter dating back to 1987 in the guises of Ellesmere Port and Sunderland for a National Cup second round fixture (Sunderland 76ers as they were, won 99-94)
For many years, it was Cheshire who rubber stamped authority on this head-to-head series. Most notably, when current director of Robbie Peers was at the helm, as in 2001, the first piece of BBL silverware in the franchise’s history was won with a 92-81 BBL Trophy Final over Newcastle Eagles at Birmingham’s National Indoor Arena, where captain Pero Cameron claimed MVP, and former NBA centre Loren Meyer posted 26 points and 9 rebounds; it certainly addressed a small matter of a BBL Championship defeat at home the previous week!
As the years moved on from this landmark moment, there was to be a rather clear power shift between the two sides. Tasting defeat at their first final attempt, and seeing the Cheshire-based franchise complete a clean sweep of titles in the 2001/02 season; the wheels were in motion for Eagles to build up what would be a mid-Millennium legacy.
The 2004/05 BBL Playoff Final was to mark the start of that success, as Newcastle ran out 78-75, with Drew Sullivan bagging the MVP award after scoring seven of their last 12 points in a dramatic last five minutes to the game.
What has since followed on from that Playoff Final for Eagles, has seen them become the most successful professional basketball team in Britain; what highlights that dominance even more in regards to this head-to-head series is that Cheshire have only won 5 meetings in the last 30 in all competitions.
For that stat to be improved, Phoenix are going to need to be firing on all cylinders. Solid point scoring was a positive sign from Friday, but Newcastle will no doubt be seen as a stronger force than Sheffield Sharks, and also fresher with Gause and Lasker expected to be part of the action after missing their fixture with Durham.
