BLAST FROM THE PAST: Newcastle Eagles 83-90 Guildford Heat

Newcastle Eagles 83-90 Guildford Heat
Friday 21st September 2007
British Basketball League (BBL Championship)
Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE4 7NA, England
Tip-Off: 19.30

SCORES - EAGLES COME FIRST
1st quarter: 22-21
Half-time: 39-39
3rd quarter: 65-69
Final score: 83-90


TOP SCORERS:
NEWCASTLE EAGLES: Bridge 17, Stewart 13, Flournoy 11
GUILDFORD HEAT: Gilbert 22, Dorsey 12, Williams 12


The Poujoulat Heat Guildford have started the 2007/08 BBL Championship
season where they finished the last one, atop the BBL Championship
table, after a massive 83-90 victory on the road at the Newcastle
Eagles.

Danny Gilbert led the scoring with 22 points, supported by 12 from
former Eagle Tony Dorsey and the same from Dean Williams. The Eagles'
new captain, Andrew Bridge, led them with 17 points.

The teams exchanged scores in the first period as the home side were
22-21 up after ten minutes. The Eagles opened the second with two
baskets before the Heat made 5 consecutive points to keep the teams
knotted at 26. With 4:00 left in the half the Eagles rattled off 8 in
a row to lead 34-29 but a strong finish from the visitors saw the game
tied again at 39 going into the locker rooms at the half.

The Eagles twice had double-digit leads in the third stanza. They
opened with the first 10 points to go up 49-39 until that run was
snapped by a James Jones triple. The Heat got back into it with
another 8-0 burst to make the score 57-55, but the Eagles responded
soon afterwards with 6 of their own to stretch the lead back out to
65-55.

Guildford had two crucial runs in the decisive stanza: the first was a
9-2 burst that saw them lead for the first time since the second
quarter at 67-68. Then with two minutes remaining Danny Gilbert fired
6 points of a 7-0 surge that settled the game as they went up 74-85
and weren't threatened again.