Newcastle Eagles 86 (24,47,64) (Smith 37, Chapman 17, Thomson 15)
Worcester Wolves 94 (21,38,51) (Freeman 33, Prezzie-Blue 23, Gordon 20)

In the battle of the early pacesetters in the BBL Championship, it was the Worcester Wolves who came out on top inflicting the first defeat of the season in the League on the Newcastle Eagles as they picked up an 86-94 come-from-behind victory at Sport Central on Friday evening.

The Eagles had lead by 13 points at 64-51 heading into the final stanza, but 17 points from Tommy Freeman sparked the Wolves into life in the opening three minutes of the final period to take the score out to 70-71.

The Wolves continued to find the basket for much of the quarter and opened up a significant 74-83 lead with three minutes left. Back-to-back three-pointers from Joe Chapman trimmed the deficit to just three points at 80-83, but that was as close as the Eagles would get for the remainder of the contest as the Wolves secured victory from the foul-line.

Earlier in the game, both sides had traded baskets throughout much of the opening quarter with the Eagles ending up on top 24-21 at the end of the period.

The second quarter saw the home side begin to put their mark on the contest as some big three-pointers from Smith and Chapman helped the home side into a nine point lead at 47-38 heading into the locker rooms at the half.

In the second half the home side continued to stretch their lead throughout the third period, but could never fully finish off the Wolves’s resilience before Freeman’s fireworks in the final quarter turned the contest on its head and handed the Wolves the all-important victory.

In a high scoring contest, Freeman (pictured) led the Wolves in scoring with 33 points, but it was Charles Smith who led all scorers in the game with an impressive 37-point haul for the Eagles.