Scottish Rocks 64 (16,27,41) (George 14, Shelton 13, Pratt/Johnson 9)
Newcastle Eagles 83 (28,45,61) (Defoe 15, Bridge 13, Stewart 12)

Newcastle Eagles picked up the final semi-final berth in the BBL Trophy thanks to a comfortable 64-83 victory over the Scottish Rocks at the Kelvin Hall on Sunday evening.

The Eagles led from tip-to-buzzer in the game, and an early 14-4 burst in the first quarter gave them a 14-27 lead.

In the second quarter they continued to stamp their authority on the game with a further 12-2 tear to take the score out to 18-40. The Rocks responded with a 9-2 run of their own to close out the first half trailing 27-42 going in at the half.

The second half saw the Rocks bag six of the first nine points of the third period to get back to within twelve points at 33-45, but the Eagles broke any resistence that the Rocks had left thanks to a 10-2 burst to take the score out to 35-55. The Eagles maintained the twenty point advantage at 41-61 going into the final stanza.

Both teams traded baskets throughout the final period with the Eagles enjoying their biggest lead of the game at 48-71 early in the quarter. Despite a valiant attempt by the Rocks to get themselves back into the game, the Eagles secured the victory from the foul- line.

Darius Defoe led all scorers in the game with 15 points for the Eagles, while Randy George led the scoring for the home side with 14.
Eagles now advance to a two legged semi final, once again against Everton.

The first leg will be played at Everton, with the date to be confirmed. The second leg will be played at Newcastle Arena on Friday 20th February, a game already scheduled to play everton in the BBL Championship. As such there is no change to the fixture or opposition and all tickets are valid.

Eagles now have all three league fixtures against title rivals Everton outstanding, all of which will be likely to be rescheduled towards the end of the season.