Eagles’ cup runneth over at Sport Central
Friday 2nd November 2012
Newcastle Eagles 107 (Huffman 25, Chapman 23, Maddox 19)
Worcester Wolves 85 (Owumi 24, Ocitti 21, Kazlauskas 16)
Starting Fives
Newcastle Eagles: Darius Defoe, Kareem Maddox, Charles Smith, Joe Chapman, Damon Huffman
Worcester Wolves: Arturas Masiulis, Stanley Ocitti, Carlos Fernandez, Alex Owumi, Stuart Thomson
Newcastle Eagles began the defence of their BBL Cup crown with a 107-85 win over Worcester Wolves that was even more comfortable than the final scoreline suggests.
After an opening few minutes with honours even, the home side went on a 22-7 run helped by imperious three-point shooting from Damon Huffman and Joe Chapman to take a 10 point lead into the second stanza. The barrage continued with the backcourt duo hitting 9 triples to take their team into a commanding 62-38 lead at the break.
The Eagles continued to dominate the visitors and the led by as many as 39 points early in the 4th quarter before running their bench in closing stages as the Wolves made the final score a more respectable 107-85.
The Eagles are rewarded with a two-legged semi-final against last season’s runners up, Plymouth Raiders.
Play of the Game
Following a spate of travelling calls against him, Joe Chapman turned his frustration into a devastating run of 3 successful 3 point shots and 2 defensive rebounds in barely a minute to turn the game late in the first period.
Game MVP
Joe Chapman was smarting from last week’s rare home defeat at the hand of Leicester Riders and his performance against Worcester Wolves showed he’s back in MVP form once more. 25 points including 6 from 9 beyond the arc, 7 assists, 5 rebounds and 3 steals capped a great night for Joe as he edged it ahead of the impressive new men Damon Huffman and Kareem Maddox.
Kareem Maddox: “A little bit of a shaky start but once we settled into our defensive principles we got into the flow. Joe stepped up big as he always does. He hit a few plays in a row, 3 threes that put us on track.”
“Coming into the season we knew there was a lot to live up to after last year. This is our first game in the Cup so we had to carve out our path. This is day one and we’ve made some progress – we’re in the semis!”
Next Up
Sunday 4th November Glasgow Rocks v Worcester Wolves 5pm Emirates Arena, Glasgow
Friday 9th November Newcastle Eagles v Manchester Giants 7.30pm Sport Central, Newcastle
