Basketball: Eagles put to flight again

Newcastle Eagles suffered successive defeats for the first time in two months on Saturday night, when Dameon Page and John McCord led Thames Valley Tigers to a 92-88 Budweiser League win at Bracknell.

The Eagles' 13-game unbeaten run ended with Wednesday's 92-74 defeat at London Towers in the first leg of the League Trophy semi-final, and a flurry of three-pointers failed to save them against Tigers.

Three long-range efforts, the last by Rob Phelps, cut Tigers lead to 87-83, but the home team scored the next four points. Page and McCord each had 25 for Tigers.

The defeat left Eagles two points behind the four leading clubs, Towers, Greater London Leopards, Birmingham Bullets and Sheffield Sharks.

Two wins in 24 hours pushed Sharks into the leading group as they followed Friday's 86-69 victory over Derby Storm by beating Watford Royals 106- 82. JaRon Boone led Leicester City Riders with 25 points in an 88-72 win at Worthing Bears.