Eagles avoid upset at Reading Rockets with some accurate shooting from deep….

BBL Trophy
Reading Rockets 90 (22, 44, 64) (Zurn 27, Turman 15, Carter 14)
Newcastle Eagles 112 (29, 53, 84) (Jones 26, Smith 16, Martin 15)

There was to be no BBL Cup hangover for Newcastle Eagles on Sunday as they overcame Reading Rockets 112-90 to reach the quarter-finals of the BBL Trophy.

The Basketball England Division One club caused the newly-crowned Cup winners and league leaders real problems before Fab Flournoy’s side’s class and experience told late on.

Rockets led 16-13 early on before a burst of nine points in one minute saw Eagles wrestle the advantage.

But the hosts kept coming and it was not until a head injury to Alex Zurn forced him to leave the game in the third quarter that Eagles really took control.

Charles Smith rolled back the years to close the period with two dunks to underline his team’s new-found dominance heading into the final 10 minutes.

He would finish with 16 points, in support of a team-high 26 for Andre Jones with Eagles’ 13 three-pointers also key to victory.

Zurn had tallied 27 points before his evening was curtailed by an unfortunate injury, as Rockets gave a strong account of themselves.