BBL Cup Final
Esh Group Eagles Newcastle (20,50,72) (Fletcher 29, Parks 25, Martin 17)
Glasgow Rocks (21,32,49) (Watson 28, Achara/Murray 15)
Esh Group Eagles claimed their third consecutive BBL Cup title after defeating Glasgow Rocks 91-83 in front of a large crowd at the Barclaycard Arena.
Rahmon Fletcher netted 29 points and dished out six assists to claim his third successive MVP award with Deondre Parks adding 25 points.
The Eagles led by as many as 23 points in the contest and held off a valiant late run from Glasgow to secure another BBL piece of silverware.
Neil Watson made a hot start with two triples in a 10-0 start before Fletcher got the Eagles going with seven points to close within a point.
Another triple from Watson followed as the duel continued with both players up to nine points by the end of the first with the Rocks up by one.
The Eagles went on 13-1 run as Fletcher moved to 15 points to help the Eagles open up a nine-point gap.
The advantage doubled as Newcastle closed the half with a 10-0 run including a corner three from Drew Lasker and a pull-up triple from Deondre Parks before the buzzer.
Gareth Murray netted back-to-back 3-pointers early in the third, but the Eagles went on another run to further increase their lead with Scott Martin making it a 20-point game.
Parks ended the third with another triple to make it 72-49 with the Eagles already seemingly out of reach.
However, the Rocks did not give up and mounted a determined late surge with Watson moving to 28 points as the gap was cut to just seven points in the final minute.
The damage had been done and Newcastle were able to celebrate a historic success.
Fab Flournoy equalled a BBL Cup Final record by finishing with five steals in the win to tie Tony Holley’s 2005 record.
BBL Cup Final Reaction
Fab Flournoy MBE, Eagles player-coach
“I’m just happy – it’s difficult being a player-coach controlling emotions at times.
“There have been some close games around the league of late, and in a Cup Final, I didn’t expect anything less than a battle on our hands.”
Scott Martin, Eagles forward
“It was a game of runs, back and forth a little bit. They came out with a big run and we had a big run in the second and then the third before they came back at us in the fourth.
“You have to give them credit, they didn’t lay down and it was a good game.”
Rahmon Fletcher, Final MVP
“This one felt better than the last two,” on winning MVP.
“When we came back this year, we weren’t focused on trophies, we just wanted to be the best that we could be and we are comfortable where we are right now.”
Kieron Achara, Rocks captain
“First I have to say it was Déjà vu, Newcastle did a great job.
“We got off to a phenomena start tonight and they [Newcastle] stayed with the course of the game, stayed focused and found a way.
“They got a big lead in the second quarter and every shot we missed they capitalised on, so credit where credit is due, they played a great game.
“I’m glad we stuck with the course when we went down and we battled until the end.”
Sterling Davis, Rocks head-coach
“Congratulations to Newcastle, I thought they did an excellent job tonight.
“For us it boiled down to not being able to limit Newcastle’s runs. I think they really thrive off that and were able to take us out of our rhythm.”