Eagles fan down the Phoenix flames 73-96

It was always a big ask for Phoenix to win their ‘first’ home game, but a courageous performance was not quite enough to stop Fab Flournoy’s Eagles running out 73-96 victors, claiming the head-to-head this season.

Starting fives:

Cheshire Phoenix: Gumbs, Marks, Myers, Haskins, Bland

Newcastle Eagles: Maddox, Chapman, Huffman, Defoe, Smith

The first quarter saw Charles Smith completely own the court, hitting four from five outside the arc, and would prove to be one of the key points as to why Phoenix were always on the back foot. Through Alif Bland and Gabe Haskins, there was a glimmer of hope but once Kareem Maddox found his aim, added to Smith’s efforts, and at 18-30 to finish, it would always be a fight.

Damon Huffman hit a three moments into the second period, and once again, it looked like the celebrations for Cheshire would be somewhat toned down, however the rise of the Phoenix would not be extinguished so easily, as again it was down to Maddox to help Eagles restore an advantage of eleven points going into the half time break, 40-51.

Coming out for the third, it was a case of trading baskets between the two sides, and not until late again in the quarter was it that the visitors again took control – and this time with aplomb at 57-74. A strong and resolute finish for Eagles helped extended their lead further securing a comfortable victory, keeping up the pace at the top of the table.

For the impressive showing made on his debut against Mersey Tigers, Jerome Gumbs was kept quiet in the game, due the major physical presence of Eagles, and Chez Marks was a surprise addition considering it was believed he was suffering from a ligament problem in his thumb. Shawn Myers and Bland both claimed double-doubles on the night.

Eagles will be happy to come out from the Northgate with a safe win after Friday night’s overtime against Plymouth, and solid performances all round, particularly from Maddox and Darius Defoe, but also a near-miss triple-double from Joe Chapman.

Flournoy felt his side played well after coming off the back of a tough game in the BBL Cup: “Coming from that, to the relaunch of Cheshire Phoenix at home, new players and old faces, such as Jerome Gumbs and Mike Burton, it was potentially an extremely tough basketball game for us. Early on Charles Smith got us out of the blocks early, set the tone and I don’t think they recovered from that onslaught. It was close throughout but it gave us the platform and distance.”

Phoenix coach, Matt Lloyd, was pleased of his side’s performance but will be looking over the next few weeks to focus more on strengthening his back court: “Overall I’m happy, offensively we were better than our defence, but over the next few weeks we will look to bring that up to the same level.

“We will integrate Jerome [Gumbs] into the system, much, much better, thanks to having a full week of training underneath him, but then we target the teams around us.”

Speaking on the effect of Charles Smith, Lloyd wasn’t too fazed by the stack of points he made early in the game against Phoenix: “It wasn’t too much to come back from, it was just tough to take. He came out, hit four straight threes and you just don’t know what to do. Some people get hot, and there’s nothing you can do.”

Play of the game: Charles Smith’s first quarter racking up of points kept Cheshire at bay for the majority of the game – could not have asked for a more perfect start.

Game MVP: Kareem Maddox

Next up:

Cheshire Phoenix at home against Glasgow Rocks, 9th December, 5:30pm

Newcastle Eagles away at Worcester Wolves, 8th December, 7:00pm