Flournoy expecting Lions response

Newcastle player-coach Fab Flournoy is expecting a tough challenge from Milton Keynes at the weekend, despite the Lions’ indifferent form of late.

After an early-season triumph over Leicester, the Lions slumped to heavy defeats at the hands of both the Riders and Glasgow Rocks, before last week’s unconvincing win over EBL side London Leopards.

The Eagles, meanwhile, have been in ominous form and already sit top of the BBL Championship, winning all but one of their games in all competitions so far, resulting in Flournoy being handed the first Coach of the Month award for this season.

Fab said: “We haven’t seen Lions this year, their results have been up and down but we know how explosive their backcourt is from last year. Stefan Gill and Demarius Bolds are not guys you can take lightly.

“I don’t know why they have lost the games so comprehensively but am sure that will be fuel for them coming up here to play against us.”

The Eagles are still without the injured Charles Smith for the weekend, but Flournoy doesn’t expect to make any signings to bolster their bench, despite still having a spare non-EU player space on his roster.

He added: “At the moment we are who we are. We are not actively looking to make additions but we do expect to have Charles [Smith] back soon which will of course be like adding another player.”