The Newcastle Eagles made it nine league wins in a row, as they went through the century mark for the fourth time in five games in beating the Prestige Homes MK Lions 91-100. The Eagles used another strong first half performance, as they were through the half century mark by half time for the sixth game succession.
Joe Chapman led their scoring with 34 points, ably supported by backcourt partner Trey Moore’s 27 points, 11 rebounds and 8 assists, and 25 from Charles Smith.
Despite the score, it was a tight opening as there were six early lead changes early on, until Moore and Chapman made it 8-13. Soon after, Moore scored 3/3 from the line and Chapman followed with a triple, to make the score 14-19. The Lions narrowed it to a one possession game at 20-22 by the end of the quarter, but Chapman’s 11 in the opening ten minutes and Moore’s 7 gave the Eagles the edge.
Smith took over in the second stanza with back-to-back baskets and within two and a half minutes the Eagles had pushed it out to double-digits at 24-34. Smith scored another five in a row, taking his personal tally to 17 in the opening 15 minutes, for a 28-41 lead, before Moore and Chapman took over again towards the end of the period: the former hit a three and the latter’s basket made it 37-53 inside the final minute.
Eagles scored the first five of the third quarter, only for the Lions to respond with six straight for a score of 47-58. The Lions couldn’t narrow the deficit any further until Shawn Myers’s triple with a minute to play in the period made the score 62-72 and two late Kris Clark free-throws made it 64-72 to set up an exciting fourth quarter.
Moore scored five quick points in the fourth to preserve Newcastle’s double-figure lead and the Eagles pushed on with Smith’s triple and a Chapman score pushing it through the twenty-point mark at 68-89, as the Lions scored just four points in the opening five minutes. That was enough for the Eagles to see the game out, despite their hosts making one last push as a 7-0 surge made the score 75-89 and they had it down to 7 points at 91-98 within the final minute.
