BASKETBALL: Flying Eagles jump into second

By Richard Taylor

NEWCASTLE EAGLES, whose home form has been impressive at the Telewest Arena, duly trounced struggling Leicester Riders 101-74 in the BBL Championship last night.

The win saw the Eagles leapfrog Brighton Bears and London Towers to move into joint second in the table alongside Sheffield Sharks, both clubs six points behind leaders Chester Jets.

Against weak opposition, Eagles player-coach Fab Flournoy spread court time between his squad with Jeremy Hyatt leading their scorers on 20 points ahead of 16 from Charles Smith and 15 from impressive English forward Andrew Sullivan.

The Eagles face a sterner test tonight when they travel to face Towers, while the Jets are at home to Sheffield tomorrow.

It has been an up and down week for Brighton's Nick Nurse, who was named the BBL's coach of the month for January and then announced as being bankrupt in the London Gazette.

The BBL chairman, Vince Macauley-Razaq, said: "This hasn't just happened this week, it is the residue of the problems of the previous management group [of which Nurse was a director] which went into receivership last October.

"Nick put a lot on the line personally when he took over the club, but he is not a director of the current management group."