It was a historic night for the returning Fab Flournoy as Esh Group Eagles Newcastle beat Surrey Scorchers 99-67 at Sport Central to extend their unbeaten BBL Championship start to 18 games.

Player-coach Flournoy had been out of action since suffering an achillies injury during March’s BBL Trophy Final but returned in the second quarter of this game.

Within four minutes he had recorded the two assists he needed to become the competition’s all-time leader with 1,910, as his team ran out comfortable winners.

The tone was set early as Eagles burst into an 8-0 first-quarter run.

Scorchers were unable to hit back and the lead gradually grew behind more impressive play on both ends of the floor from December’s Molten BBL Player of the Month, Scott Martin.

Martin finished with a team-high 19 points to go with 11 rebounds as Rahmon Fletcher recorded a 13-point, 10-assist double-double.

The victory sees the reigning champions open up a 12-point lead at the top of the BBL Championship, with their two closest rivals not in league action, and stretches their overall winning run to an incredible 26 games.

Flournoy’s men will aim to make that 27 when they travel to Manchester Giants in the BBL Trophy First Round on Sunday.

Scorchers were led by 14 points from debutant Allie Fullah, but slipped to a fifth consecutive defeat, ahead of their Trophy meeting with Reading Rockets on Wednesday.