BBL Cup

Glasgow Rocks 69 (Northern 19, Marcotullio 13, Harrison 10)

Esh Group Eagles Newcastle 81  (Cooke 27, Gause 12, Martin 12)

Malik Cooke (pictured) poured in a game-high 27 points as Esh Group Eagles Newcastle outpowered Glasgow Rocks 81-69 in the British Basketball League (BBL) Cup Quarter Finals.

It was a tough start of the game shooting-wise, as the teams combined for 25 points in the first quarter, with Eagles holding a 15-10 edge.

On several occasions in the second quarter the visitors from Newcastle had increased the gap to eight points, but Rocks managed to contain the runs.

Things started to spiral out of control for the home side in the third quarter, who had started the second half with a 34-39 deficit.

Darius Defoe instigated a 9-0 run for Eagles, scoring five points in the stretch to give the visitors a 61-47 lead.

Although Rocks had momentarily come back to make it an eight-point game, but Eagles responded with a 14-2 spurt to answer any remaining questions.

In addition to Malik Cooke’s 27 points, Paul Gause and Scott Martin scored 12 points apiece for Eagles, with the latter also adding 10 rebounds.

Newcomer Alex Marcotullio scored 13 points, grabbed seven rebounds and dished out six assists in his Rocks, while Daniel Northern collected 19 points and grabbed nine boards.