Basketball: Davis back on form as Jets clip Eagles' wings

Chester Jets shook off the disappointment of Sunday's cup final defeat against Brighton Bears to strengthen the defence of their BBL Championship title by beating Newcastle Eagles 90-79 at the Telewest Arena last night.

The victory gives Chester 12 wins from 16 games, but Brighton stayed one win ahead when they also avoided any cup final hangover by beating Thames Valley Tigers 108-86 at Bracknell. Brighton have also played 16 and have four games in hand over leaders Sheffield Sharks, who are three wins ahead of them.

Jets' Calvin Davis returned to form after scoring a disappointing total of three points in the final. He hit 26 points against the Eagles as Chester took control with a 10-0 run to lead 65-52.

Kenny Gregory also proved almost unstoppable and scored over a third of Chester's points with 31, including six in a late 7-0 run which made the game secure at 81-72.

Sterling Davis performed equally impressively last night, scoring exactly a third of Brighton's points with 36, ahead of 24 from Ralph Blalock and 19 by Rico Alderson.

The Tigers led 11-2 from the tip and were still 21-18 ahead at the end of the first quarter. But a 17-3 run put the Bears 37-24 in front and they were never threatened after leading 55-42 at half-time.

Barry Bowman was top scorer with 22 points for the Tigers, who led the BBL Championship just two months ago, but have now slipped badly out of contention for the title.