Eagles simply too good for Raiders on the day
If you had told any Raiders fan Sunday morning that their team was about to put 94 on the Newcastle Eagles in the BBL Cup final that afternoon, celebrations would have probably commenced there and then.
The guys in green shot 52% from the floor, and 83% from the line – remarkable stats for a club with a grim history at the NIA. What’s even more remarkable is that these are the stats from the losing side of a cup final blow out. The winning side scored 115, they connected on 55% of their efforts from the floor, and their MVP pumped in 31 points before half time.
It was the Raiders who felt like they had everything to prove, it was time to show the rest of the country that they belonged on the big stage, that they could not only compete, but beat the Eagles and claim the first prize of the BBL season. It’s not like the occasion overwhelmed them – something previous Raiders teams can be accused of – the Eagles just took their game to another level, Smith in particular choosing the perfect time to have the finest twenty minutes of his career.
For the first eight minutes the game was competitive; Anthony Rowe and Darius Defoe exchanged baseline jumpers, before Colbert and Williams scored on hustle plays on the collapsing Eagles defence. If early indications were anything to go by, the Raiders looked more than good, and as they battled through some tough Eagles scores – including Smith’s first three pointer of the game – they stayed poised and took a 12-10 lead.
Eagles Paul Gause entered the game and immediately impacted affairs with a jump shot to tie the game up at 12. Lehmon Colbert then made two nice plays as he finished above the rim coming down the middle of the lane, he followed this up with a high-low feed to Paul Williams who put the Raiders up again at 16-14, unfortunately, this is as good as things were going to get for the South-West outfit.
Charles Smith decided to take things over, the Eagles veteran simply went off, and quickly racked up 21 points in the opening quarter on a series of tough 1 on 1 plays. Sandwiched between Smith scores was a Defoe jam, the Newcastle lead grew to 30-20 and ending up swelling to 15 as Gause scored on the buzzer to finish the quarter 35-20, much to the disbelief of a shell-shocked Raiders side.
It was Smith who continued to find the bottom of the net in the second quarter, including an And 1 three point play, before facing up against James Jones on the perimeter, rising up and scoring his 28th point of the game. Down 47-28, this was all too familiar territory, a sense of déjà vu drifted into the minds of those who witnessed the collapse of the Raiders in the same competition at the NIA three years ago.
The Raiders had to act quickly, they implemented a full court press, and this proved to be effective as the Eagles offence slowed right down. Bell found some easy scores before great ball movement left to right saw Rowe find Colbert for the AND 1, soon the deficit was down to just 9. James Jones then picked up two quick fouls, and had to sit with 4 personal, and Newcastle managed to extend their lead from the line, this was the theme for the rest of the quarter as the lead grew to 63-46 to end the half.
The second half started in quick fashion, both teams exchanged scores in the early phases of play, the score stood at 68-54 and it looked like Raiders could find a way back in the game. These thoughts were soon dashed as Chapman connected on a deep three, and Thompson scored in transition, the Eagles were first to everything, and their hustle was rewarded with a dominant 79-58 lead. Plymouth hesitated, they started to over think, and the only player who seemed confident to initiate and create was back-up point guard Anthony Martin – the diminutive guard put in a superb performance finishing the game with 13 points and 6 assists. The Eagles took a 94-74 lead into the fourth, the writing was well and truly on the wall.
The final quarter played out fairly evenly, the play was sometimes sloppy as one team couldn’t wait to get off court and hit the showers, whilst the other team couldn’t wait to get the party started. Martin connected with Colbert on a couple of nice alley-oop plays, and the Eagles continued to put on a clinic in transition, and aside from a missed dunk by Chapman on the break, they kept the score board ticking over and kept their 20 point lead intact.
The Eagles scored 33 points from downtown, compared with a measly 3 by the Raiders. But the Champions were also aided by their bench who poured in 40, in a stark contrast the Raiders could manage just 13 off the pine – all of which belonged to Martin.
The NIA slump continues for the Raiders, who will look to put things right with two big league games at home this weekend, before a two legged Trophy semi-final against the Milton Keynes Lions – the other semi-final sees the Eagles matched up against the Sheffield Sharks. If all plays out well, the Raiders will get another stab at the Eagles in a major final, but for now at least the focus should return to league basketball, and with 22 games left still to play, a gruelling schedule lies ahead.
