Old favourites have Sport Central rocking!

BBL Championship Friday 21st September 2012

Newcastle Eagles 72 (Chapman 23, Smith 15, Defoe 10, Flournoy 10)

Glasgow Rocks 65 (Murray 16, Davis 12, Harrison 11, Robinson 11)

Starting Fives:

Newcastle Eagles: Darius Defoe, Kareem Maddox, Charles Smith, Joe Chapman, Damon Huffman

Glasgow Rocks: Gareth Murray, Sterling Davis, Andrew Wedemire, Donald Robinson, EJ Harrison

Newcastle Eagles began their BBL campaign in front of a healthy Sport Central crowd with a win that was perhaps a little more comfortable than the scoreline suggests.

After a ten minute delay to the tipoff to allow the queues to subside, the first quarter was a typical of an early season game with errors on both sides and defence dominating the proceedings. The Eagles began to dominate at both ends of the court from the second quarter and bar a short-lived Rocks rally at the start of the second half, the middle two quarters belonged to the home side.

The Eagles scored the last 8 points of the first quarter, amidst a 13-1 that lifted them to an early double-digit lead at 25-15. Inspired by new captain Joe Chapman, who had 17 first half points, the Champions held the Rocks to meagre 7 second quarter points as they led 35-21 at halftime. The Rocks looked dead and buried as the Eagles increased their lead to 20 points in the second half before a brief but spirited Rocks’ fight back was stopped in its tracks by a stunning Charles Smith double three-point salvo.

A second rally from the visitors, as foul trouble hit both teams, deep into the final stanza left the scoreline in a more respectable state for the visitors but in reality there was never any danger of the spoils heading back north of the border.

Taking into account the typical season opener fare on offer and the integration of the new faces, it impressive win for the home side nevertheless with the bulk of the points being shared by the familiar faces of Chapman, Smith and Defoe and Flournoy, who both racked up double doubles. Rocks’ showed more than enough to suggest they are likely to be top four challengers this year too.

Play of the game

Not so much a play, more a double whammy as perennial Rockslayer Charles Smith sank two rapid three-pointers to drain the energy from a Rocks mini-revival in the third period. How Sterling and co. must be wishing Charles had stuck be his retirement plans last Summer!

An honourable mention must go to Huffman’s no look between the legs pass. The type of skill rarely seen in the BBL and hopefully the first of many highlights to come.

Game MVP

The Eagles’ new Captain Joe Chapman looked lean and mean, having shed 15lbs in the offseason. He is not taking his new role lightly and his first half performance of 17 points put his side in a commanding position at the break. In a typically authoritative performance, Joe drained shots from all around the perimeter finishing with a game high 23 points plus a healthy 8 rebounds. His determination and dedication to continued improvement on last year’s MVP season, means it would be a major surprise is he wasn’t in the mix for the same honour this term.

Game quotes

I spoke to MVP Joe Chapman after the game.

Joe said, “It’s the first game and obviously it’s going to take time to gel with the new guys. Some of them don’t know the ways of the BBL yet so they’ve got to become accustomed to that.”

“It’s a good first win and we played great defence. The second half we got a bit routine but it’s just the first we so we’re going to get better and better.

On his stunning first half offensive display, Joe said, “I dropped 15 pounds over the summer so that helped and seeing some of the new guys finding their feet I wanted to come out hard. Getting towards the second half all of the guys picked it up so I concentrated more on defence.”

Joe’s looking forward to making good use of the bullets Damon Huffman will be supplying him with this season.

“He’s a natural point guard which is really going to help. Once we get our sets and our principles down on offense he’s going to be great. He’s already ahead of the game because he plays great defence.”

Next up

Sunday 23rd September Durham Wildcats v Glasgow Rocks 4pm Newton Aycliffe Leisure Centre

Sunday 23rd September London Lions v Newcastle Eagles 5.30pm National Sports Centre, Crystal Palace