BBL Championships play-offs, Round One (Coventry)

Newcastle Eagles 94 (20,51,73) Myers 26, Walker 25, Leak 21
Leopards Kool Kats 88 (18,42,70) Brown 24, Alderson 19, Henlan 14

Newcastle Eagles shook off the challenge of Leopards to progress to a quarter-final meeting with Southern Conference runners-up Brighton Bears, securing their passage with a 94-88 defeat of the Essex outfit.

Leopards enjoyed the better of the opening exchanges and led 38-31 four minutes from the interval. But Shawn Myers and TJ Walker led Newcastle's fightback with the guard hiting eight quick points as the Tyneside outfit finished the half strongly with a 20-4 tear to lead 51-42. 

Newcastle's advantage peaked at 67-54, before Leopards rallied and leveled the game at 76-76 early in the final period. 

However Eagles made the decisive run in the dying minutes when back-to-back Jeremy Hyatt scores sparked an 10-3 burst to leave the Eagles 91-83 clear with just 53s left. 

Myers led all scorers with 26, while Walker chipped in 25 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists. Rod Brown led the Leopards with 24 points including 5-for-8 three point shooting but it was not enough for Chris Pullem's side.
 

Milton Keynes Lions  69  (25,37,60)  (Brown 21, Alleyne 15, Lloyd 12)
Edinburgh Rocks  64  (18,30,48)  (Graves 24, Berry 16, Gardner 11)
 

Milton Keynes Lions won their way through to the quarter-finals but had to survive a tremendous final quarter revival by Edinburgh Rocks before prevailing 69-64. 

The Lions led for much of the first half and back-to-back three-pointers from Jermaine Brown saw them into a double figure lead at 44-34 early in the second half. They kept the Rocks at arms length throughout the third quarter, before Kevin Wall's side made their
charge in the final period. Rocks scored the opening nine of the final quarter, but Milton Keynes still led 65-59 with 4.55 remaining. Thereafter, Rocks defence stopped Milton Keynes scoring again until 17 seconds left on the clock. 

At the same time they slowly chipped away at the lead and with 21 seconds remaining Ted Berry had the chance to tie the game from the line. He only made 1-for-2 and Nigel Lloyd made it a 67-64 game from the line a few seconds later. Berry tried to force overtime with a last gasp three, but when it rimmed out Lloyd iced it from the line.

Click here to discuss this story