Duo set for BBL Trophy Final crunch

We’ll find out the destination of the second piece of BBL silverware this Friday, as Newcastle and Plymouth go again in the BBL Trophy Final.

The Raiders take a nine point lead in to the second leg, following their 97-88 win down south last weekend, and Newcastle player-coach Fab Flournoy needs his side have work to do to turn it around.

He said: “We really didn’t play great down in Plymouth. We were a step slow on defence for much of the game and whilst we made some shots our general offensive execution was not brilliant.

“We need to play better defence, period. We need to play with more urgency and aggression than we did on Sunday.”

It will be the sixth meeting between the two teams this season, with Eagles leading the series 3-2. The game will be a repeat of the BBL Cup final in January when Flournoy’s team took the season’s first trophy home following a stunning 115-94 win at the NIA in Birmingham. The BBL Championship leading Eagles also collected victories in the first two league meetings this season, winning 90-67 at home in November and repeating the trick with a 103-94 overtime road win in February. However the Raiders made the return trip to the North East the following week and kept their title hopes alive with an 85-76 victory.

Raiders captain Anthony Rowe added: “It’s a nice lead, and it’s always good to be ahead when you’re going into the second leg of the two-le tie, but it’s really only a very small cushion over 40 minutes.”