BBL Championship
Esh Group Eagles Newcastle 97 (23,50,77) (Parks 17, Martin 15, Defoe 14)
Surrey Scorchers 66 (20,41,54) (Rollins 19, Ogedengbe 13, Neighbour 11)

Esh Group Eagles Newcastle cruised to a 97-66 victory over Surrey Scorchers to set the early pace in the BBL Championship, moving to 4-0, as Scott Martin notched a double-double of 15 points and 11 rebounds on his birthday. His tally was only bettered by Deondre Parks’ 17 points, as Eagles made it ten straight wins over Surrey dating back to April 2013.

Eagles had to dig themselves out of an early 9-2 hole against a visiting side that remains winless in the league this season, as Darius Defoe got them going with consecutive scores on the inside. A 15-2 first quarter run included a three-pointer from debutant Joe Hart as former Scorcher Christian Behrens gave Newcastle the lead, 23-18 after ten minutes.

That was followed by a 12-2 opening to the second stanza, sparked by a Drew Lasker triple and including five for Rahmon Fletcher, who also added nine assists on the night. And the lead hit 20 points in the third quarter when Eagles scored seven in a row, including three for Orlan Jackman, in what became a 20-6 surge and a 70-47 lead.

All ten Eagles were on the scoreboard by the fourth quarter, when Danny Horta-Darrington emerged from the bench to send the lead through 30, and Eagles have now averaged 95 points across their first four games.