Newcastle Eagles 101 (16,44,77) (Smith 23, Defoe 17, Chapman 16)
Airwaves Plymouth Raiders 87 (20,44,63) (Martin 22, Valencia 19, Roe 15)

Newcastle Eagles moved themselves level in second place with the Marshall MK Lions in the BBL Championship table thanks to a 101-87 victory over the Airwaves Plymouth Raiders at the Metro Radio Arena on Friday evening. It was the visitors who started the game the stronger, and a 10-2 burst in the opening period gave them an early 10-18 lead and the Raiders held their advantage through until the end of the opening quarter where they lead 16-20. In the second quarter the visitors continued to open out a slight advantage and lead by six points at 25-31 off the back of a 9-2 burst, but the Eagles came back into the game as they chipped away at the Raiders advantage and eventually tied the game up at 44-44 heading into the locker rooms at the half.

In the second half Darius Defoe bagged the opening basket of the third period and the Eagles were never to trail in the game from that points onwards. A 9-2 run for the Eagles began to hammer home their advantage taking the score out to 67-56 midway through the third period and the Eagles continued to extend their lead and headed into the final stanza ahead by fourteen points at 77- 63. In the final period the Eagles continued to press home their advantage and a further 9 -2 tear in the closing stages of the contest gave the Eagles their biggest lead of the game at 99-80.

The visitors battled hard in the closing stages to get themselves back into the contest, and despite a 7-0 burst to trim the deficit back to 99-87, the Eagles held on for the comfortable victory. Charles Smith led all scorers in the game with 23 points for the victorious Eagles, while Anthony Martin led the scoring for the Raiders with 22 points of his own.