Everton out as Eagles soar into Trophy final

The Everton Tigers were knocked out of the BBL Trophy on Friday after they failed to capitalise on a 10 point half-time lead, losing to reigning champions Newcastle Eagles.

Having lost the opening match of the two-leg semi-final in Newcastle by just four points, the Tigers entered the decisive game at Greenbank without their star point-guard, Trey Moore, who was serving a one-match suspension for arguing with a referee.

Everton’s newest signing, Marcel Jones, opened the Tigers’ scoring in his debut for the team before the Blues went on to open a substantial lead in the first quarter thanks to consecutive three-pointers from James Jones.

Newcastle forced their way back into the game at the start of the second quarter before James Jones once again sunk back-to-back three pointers, driving the Tigers forward and raising the crowd to their feet. A strong offensive performance by the entire team saw the Tigers enter the half 10 points ahead on the night, 49-39, six points ahead on aggregate.

The Newcastle Eagles showed why they are top of the league and the reigning Trophy holders in the third quarter, however, as they quickly narrowed the gap and eventually took the lead away from Everton before pulling out a gap to end the quarter up, 62-67.

Despite their best efforts Everton were unable to re-take the lead finishing the game with a 91-96 loss, and losing the two-leg semi-final 185-176.

Although disappointed to miss out on the Trophy final, Everton Coach, Tony Garbelotto had a lot of positives on his team’s performance.

He said: “We were awesome in the first half. I am proud of the team and I am proud of how we played over the two games.”

Graceful in defeat, Garbelotto added: “Newcastle aren’t just a good team, they are a super team. When we really needed to make a couple of plays, we didn’t, and they did. That is what separated the two teams.”