Everton Tigers 90 (27,49,62) (Aliu 27, Midgley 20, Haslam 19)
Newcastle Eagles 93 (21,45,58) (Stewart 27, Babalola 19, Dafoe 17)
(After Overtime 86-86 at the end of regulation)

Newcastle Eagles completed the first part of their bid to win the BBL Championship this weekend with a nail biting 93-90 overtime success over the Everton Tigers.

In a nip and took encounter neither side were able to break clear of their opponents but it was the Tigers who held a slender advantage for much of the game. Late in the fourth quarter four points in a row from Tigers David Aliu looked to have given his side the crucial advantage at 83-79 going in to the final few minutes however some dominant rebounding from Lynard Stewart and cool shooting from the charity stripe from Andrew Bridge levelled things up at 86-86 with 15s remaining. Amazingly both sides had the opportunity to win the game in the final seconds, Tigers turning the ball over on their offence and Eagles failing to get a decent look in their final 10s possession.

Once in the extra period once again it was Tigers who nudged in front, former Eagles Richard Midgeley’s score with just over 2m remaining left the hosts 90-88 to the good. However the Tigers weren’t to score again as a put back and one out of two from the line from Stewart separated two single free throw successes from Andrew Bridge to give Eagles the win.