NEWS ARCHIVE

Newcastle Eagles will not be in the mood for a slip up when they face Marshall MK Lions, who themselves will try to use the game to bounce back from a heartbreaking 101-104 overtime defeat to Jelson Homes DMU Leicester Riders, in which former GB International Yorick Williams hit 10 three pointers on his way to 36 points.

Lions owner-coach, Vince Macaulay remained positive despite the defeat, and reminded fans that the Lions were without influential Americans EJ Harrison and Frank Holmes. The club have also recently released Arbtech BBL Slam Dunk Contest Champion, Guy Dupuy. Macaulay explained: 'We are still missing E.J Harrison and Frank Holmes whilst we have released Guy Dupuy - a replacement for Guy may well be in by the weekend. Against the Riders, I thought we showed a lot of maturity and experience, we were able to not let them get away from us in their running game, then slowly reel them in, and we had a great chance to win the game in the last three seconds of regulation on a fast break, which would have culminated in a great weekend.' Players that stood out for the Macaulay were the Riders Jason Johnson and his own Yorick Williams.

He commented: 'I thought Jason Johnson was excellent for Riders, he rebounded well and showed a lot of moves around the basket, and we didn't have an athlete to put on him. For us, obviously Yorick (Williams) showed why he is still the best shooter in the country - his three point shooting was something to behold.'

The Eagles come into the game off the back of a dominant 99-79 performance against fellow title challengers, Sheffield Sharks, at the Metro Radio Arena last Sunday, and player-coach Fabulous Flournoy was delighted with the way his players stepped up, as the game followed their qualification for the BBL Trophy Final after a 91-96 second leg Semi Final defeat of Everton Tigers: 'Last week was the biggest weekend for us' he said: 'The second leg of the Trophy and the league title was up. We played well enough to beat Everton, and we played our best basketball of the season against the Sharks. With both of those games won, it puts us in a good position for the trophy and the league. As a coach, I am very pleased for our club, but now the hard work starts' he said.

The Eagles have dominated a long-standing rivalry between the clubs, as they hold the all-time series at 54-22. They also arguably have the edge for this game as well, having beaten the Lions 87-101 in their last fixture. However, Flournoy has a feeling that the Lions, who were without last time they met the Eagles as well, will be much better prepared this time round. Flournoy said: 'This weekend will be a tough test for us. The Lions are going to be ready for us this time round. When we played them last they were without Frank Holmes, which is a big loss for them.' He added: 'When you lose a player due to injury, the coach has to find a way to work out how they will fill the void. Luckily for us when we played them, Vince (Macaulay) did not have any time to work on that. I expect MK will be ready to get back on track!'