The Newcastle Eagles made the long journey south to Surrey Sports Park to take on the 89ers and will return home full of good heart and spirit after an excellent 103-94 victory. If Manchester have the Indian sign over the Eagles, then the reverse is true of Eagles over the 89ers.

This was the fourth and last meeting of the regular season between these two sides and for the fourth time Newcastle came out on top after a superb second half showing that turned the game around in their favour.

Given the respective league positions of both sides and how tight the placings are in the middle of the SLB pack this was a huge win for Newcastle against a higher ranked play-off rival. It should certainly give Marc Steutel and his players a big psychological boost moving forward.

For the second game running Ray’Sean Taylor who is having a stellar rookie professional season was named game MVP after netting 21 points dishing out 10 assists and pulling down 4 rebounds. Gus Okafor had 20 points and 5 rebounds and Deion Hammond shooting well had 17 points.

Terrell Burden Jr. contributing well with 12 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists and Cole Long adding 8 points with 4 rebounds. Heroes all but perhaps the one player above all that showed Eagles commitment and desire was Maceo Jack.

They hauled another point back as the half ended and going to the locker room down by only five points at 50-45 whilst not ideal was certainly better than perhaps it had been going to look. Head Coach Marc Steutel having the opportunity to fire up his troops for the second twenty minutes.

A real statement of intent then was thrown down as they opened the third period. Triples from Jack and Hammond and a further deuce from Hammond turned a four-point deficit into a four-point lead and it was very much game on.

It was almost impossible at times to predict a winner. Taylor and Burden pushing and probing and Okafor, Hammond and Jack supporting superbly for Eagles. A seven-point swing gave Newcastle a three-point lead to take into the final quarter.

It went back and forth for a while in that last ten minutes and with just under four minutes to go the game was tied at 91-91. That’s when Newcastle struck their last decisive knockout blow that sent Surrey reeling to the canvas.

A scintillating defensive effort enabled calm controlled offence. The Eagles seeing out the game with an excellent 12-3 run to the final buzzer to take a vital win as the end of season play-offs loom.

The Eagles are back home this Friday night against Sheffield Sharks and tickets are still available on the box office.